Budget Bill Gets House’s Vote

Is this what bipartisan harmony looks like? Probably not, and considering the end product—a compromised budget bill—this kind of cooperation might not be desirable. That said, the House passed the bill Thursday that had brought the legislative process to a crisis last week, but nobody seems too excited about it.  —KA

The New York Times:

After the vote on the budget measure, the House moved on to votes on two measures — one that would deny federal funds to Planned Parenthood and another to roll back the 2009 health care overhaul. Both are expected to pass overwhelmingly in the House, but fail in the Senate.

Early in the debate over the bill, Mr. Boehner took to the House floor to defend it and encourage its passage. “Is it perfect? No,” he said. “I’d be the first to admit it’s flawed. But welcome to divided government.”

Democratic leaders were equally unenthusiastic.

“The priorities that we have agreed to in this resolution are not my priorities,” said Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the whip for the Democrats. “But we have reached an agreement.”

The measure, the product of negotiations among the White House, House Republicans and Senate Democrats to end a standoff that nearly led to a government shutdown, presaged the larger battles still ahead.

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Flickr / House GOP Leader (CC-BY)

House Speaker John Boehner, pictured here in a previous press huddle, managed to shepherd the budget bill through the House, but nobody seems really thrilled with the result.