House Republicans are ending their eight-year run in the majority exactly the way it began — grabbing a hostage and seeking ransom. However, unlike their first six years of legislating by crisis, the most conservative House Republicans have a key ally: Trump. With a midnight Friday deadline, House Republicans went back to a drawing board that was fraught with political risk. By late 2012, as tax cuts and mandatory spending cuts were set to take place, House Republicans seized that debate and demanded massive spending cuts from Obama. The only saving grace of taking all those hostages — the drop in the deficit in the early years of the GOP majority — has evaporated.

Source: Washington Post December 21, 2018 01:05 UTC