Behind the Debt Deal

Wall Street Journal: “The budget fight that ended Wednesday night marked a new low in an increasingly dysfunctional capital. Interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers, congressional aides and administration officials about what transpired behind the scenes revealed that the traditional back-channel negotiations and 11th-hour bartering that produce most legislative deals didn’t happen. Instead, both parties focused mostly on trying to kill any plans that emerged–both from the opposing party and their own colleagues.”

“Both sides emerged more entrenched and distrustful of one another, and that bad blood could spill beyond the budget questions. Republicans, defeated in their bid to neuter the health law, are unlikely to provide assistance to President Barack Obama as he tries to get his second term on track. Democrats have less faith in House Speaker John Boehner’s ability to deliver votes from his own rank-and-file.”

Politico quotes Boehner in a private conversation with Obama: “I got overrun, that’s what happened.”