WHEN PRESIDENTS FAIL, it creates a snowball effect. George W. Bush couldn’t privatize Social Security and his legislative agenda never recovered. Bill Clinton’s abandonment of health care reform led it to tackle small-ball measures. Both were punished by voters for their failures in the next midterm, losing control of Congress and the ability to get anything else done. Voters don’t like losers.
That’s bad news for House Republicans. Fresh off the (probable) failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they are pivoting to tax cuts. But along the way, for procedural reasons, they need to pass a budget.
The budget resolution is critical to the entire agenda for next year, because it sets up what’s called a budget reconciliation bill, which allows the Senate to get around the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster. Without a budget resolution, there likely will be no tax cut package, the next big item for Trump.
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