How Dems view this fall’s fiscal fight

By Greg Sargent, WashPost, Updated: September 12, 2013

Several liberal bloggers have raised an interesting question: Are Senate Democrats set to cave in this fall’s fiscal fights?

Here’s the case, as laid out by Jonathan Bernstein, Kevin Drum and Jonathan Cohn. House Republicans want to pass a temporary measure funding the government through December 15 at sequestration levels, give or take. But we don’t know if deeply divided House Republicans can even do that. So leverage lies with Dems. Why should they agree to fund the government at austerity levels? Shouldn’t they hold out for higher funding levels and force the GOP leadership to pass it with a lot of Dem support?

The official position of Senate Dems is they’ve made no decisions and are waiting to see what House Republicans can pass. But aides have said Senate Dems would probably pass a temporary funding measure at current levels — if House Republicans do. And let’s face it: President Obama has not signaled he wants a fight over temporary funding, so there probably won’t be one. Progressive groups are wary of Dems accepting GOP austerity spending levels. So would it be a cave?

Here’s the answer, as supplied by a Senate Democratic aide. The view from the Dem side is that the House GOP is currently imploding amid potentially irreconcilable divisions over how aggressively to confront Obamacare. If House Republicans pass something temporarily funding the government at current levels, i.e. $988 billion over 10 years, and Senate Dems demand more — say, at the rate of their $1.058 trillion budget — that ultimately won’t help Dems.

(More here.)