Spending Bill Highlights Tensions of Next Two Years

“The wrangling between the White House and Congress over a $1.1 trillion spending bill is the first test of how political forces unleashed by the midterm elections and impending 2016 campaigns will influence governing here,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The fight foreshadows two years of legislative battles defined by tensions not just between the two parties—as has been the case since the Republican takeover of the House in 2010—but within them… The open question is whether the newly energized ideological wings of each party will become an impediment to legislation—or whether they will be bypassed by lawmakers more open to compromise. That appeared to have happened Thursday, when 57 House Democrats joined 162 Republicans to form a fragile coalition to pass the spending bill.”