Moneybox

No Government Shutdown in 2013

US President Barack Obama is accompanied by House Speaker John Boehner as he leaves the US Capitol after attending a St. Patrick’s Day lunch along with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny in Washington, DC, on March 19, 2013.

Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

When House Republicans agreed to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for a gimmicky “no budget no pay” rule, I thought for sure we were heading for a government shutdown crisis later in the year. But no. A bipartisan continuing resolution passed yesterday and the doors will stay open. Ezra Klein says he’s a bit sad because this increases the chances of a huge debt ceiling fight next time around.

I’m a bit more optimistic. I was really confident this shutdown would happen. And so, for a while, were the folks I talked to on Capitol Hill. Then they started telling me the mood had changed and they’d changed their mind about the GOP’s attitude. I didn’t believe them. But they were right. Maybe the mood really has changed and Republicans have lost their taste for apocalyptic budget showdowns. After all, the domestic discretionary spending they hate is trending downwards anyway so there’s a logic in playing nice. Here’s hoping.