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Are House Republicans Ready to Cut a Deal?

Posted at 11 a.m. on Nov. 12, 2012

Matthew Yglesias thinks that after two years of gridlock and four years of partisan fighting, President Obama and House Republicans might be able to find common ground, or at least make a deal.

“But maybe there are things House Republicans really want to do! For example, maybe someone out there really does want to end federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I bet they could get that done… Since bipartisan deals make the president look good, and since the president wants to look good, congressional Republicans can take advantage of that fact to broker deals to advance their policy goals.”

“Welfare reform in 1996 is a great example… Bill Clinton’s ability to deliver a bipartisan deal on welfare made it harder for Bob Dole to beat him in November. But then again, Republicans’ willingness to let Clinton deliver a bipartisan deal on welfare got welfare reform passed.”

Ryan Avent sees a shifting tide as well: “The composition of the Congress hasn’t changed very much, but perhaps the failure of obstruction to achieve its desired strategic result may allow the same (mostly) set of personnel to generate a much different set of outcomes.”

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  • Chredon

    As long as there are Tea Party wing nuts who are willing to throw a competent conservative out of office in a vain attempt to install a right-wing nut job like Akin, Mourdock, Angle, or O’Donnell, Republicans in Congress are going to be unwilling to deal. If Boehner is smart enough to take a page out of the Nancy Pelosi playbook, he will find enough Representatives in districts with a minor Tea Party presence that they can be chosen to make the necessary votes to pass legislation, and let the others vote against it to save their incumbency. There have to be 20 or so Representatives who are not open to drawing a primary challenger.

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