Even as they were being toasted for pulling off a legislative masterstroke in beating back conservative opposition to the Murray-Ryan budget deal, House GOP leaders stepped on a garden rake by violating the “clean” nature of the deal by tossing in a vote on a “doc-fix” for Medicare (the regular and painful ritual of figuring out how much of scheduled Medicare provider cuts are going to be taken back). And now House Democrats are rebelling, per this report from The Hill:
The budget deal worked out by House and Senate negotiators is on the verge of unraveling over the exclusion of federal unemployment benefits, several leading Democrats warned Wednesday.
The lawmakers are outraged by a GOP move to add the Medicare “doc fix” to the package but not a continuation of unemployment benefits — a strategy they say could sink the entire package by scaring away Democratic votes.
We’ll keep monitoring the situation.
