A shutdown is averted, but the Republican clown show continues

Just hours before the government ran out of funds, House Democrats came to the aid of House Republicans and reached a deal to keep the government going for another 45 days (including funds for disaster, an extension of a federal flood insurance program, and FAA reauthorization).

The measure passed on a vote of 335-91. More House Democrats than Republicans supported it (indeed, every House Democrat but one voted for it).

But in a bow to MAGA Republicans (and to Trump), the deal does not include aid for Ukraine — a huge symbolic victory for Putin.

The Senate is going along with the deal. It had been on the brink of passing its own bipartisan stopgap measure — including $6 billion to keep munitions and other assistance going to Ukraine. (Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, says he and Mitch McConnell will continue fighting for “more economic and security aid for Ukraine.”)

All Senate Democrats (plus 3 independents) voted for it. The holdout senators were 9 Republicans.

Crisis averted. But of course this just kicks the can down the road for the next 45 days.

It should be noted that the entire crisis was the result of MAGA Republicans in the House, who didn’t come up with a single proposal to remedy the crisis, let alone any demand. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Speaker of the House, spent weeks giving in to everything the MAGA extremists wanted — to no avail.

Ultimately, it was the Democrats in the House and the Senate who rescued the country.

The near shutdown of the U.S. government elevates the issue of American support for Ukraine into a larger point of contention between MAGA Republicans and the rest of the U.S. government, as well as most of the American population, if polls are to be believed.

As for holding on to his speakership, Kevin McCarthy is safe for now. Although a handful of MAGA’s are unhappy with the outcome, they have no obvious replacement for McCarthy who can attract a majority of House votes.

Make no mistake: Trump was the main force behind the near shutdown. Why? Because Trump calculated that a shutdown would play to his advantage. Because he’s no longer president, he wouldn’t be blamed — but as the government fell into chaos, Biden would take the heat.

Trump will continue to try to create chaos, in hopes Biden will be blamed. It’s likely he’s already at work trying to torpedo the next funding measure, needed in 45 days.

Meanwhile, the House GOP comes out of this looking awful. Its eleventh hour desperate outreach to House Democrats to keep the government running, its refusal to give aid to Ukraine, combined with its absurd effort to impeach Biden on the basis of zero evidence of wrongdoing, and abject failure to do the public’s business — all of this demonstrates once again that the Republican Party is incapable of governing.