State of denial: GOP insists there are no winners in compromise deal

The GOP appears to be in a serious case of denial as it attempts to claim that there were no winners in the so-called compromise deal approved by Congress last night that gave the president and Democrats everything they have wanted for the past several weeks.

The left-leaning Politico came out noting that the agreement amounts to a total loss and surrender for the Republicans.

“At the beginning of October, Republicans decided against funding the government to try to force Democrats to change Obamacare. Sixteen days later, it remains fully funded, and President Barack Obama is expected sign a debt ceiling increase and extension of government funding without giving up a single thing.”

Republicans have attempted to portray the deal to reopen the government and raise the debt limit as being neutral, with no sides winning.

However, the president insisted from the beginning that Congress send him an increase in the debt limit and a continuing resolution with no strings attached. While the Republicans attempted to first defund Obamacare, the Senate and Obama held firm to their decision.

The Republicans then appeared to negotiate with themselves by passing a bill that left out the Obamacare defunding, but required Congress and the president to submit to the requirements of Obamacare like the rest of America. When the Democrats refused to vote on it, rather than say that was their final offer, Republicans then floated the idea of passing a series of smaller appropriations bills like what had been done for decades.

In the end, none of the proposals even received so much as a counteroffer from Democrats, which is what normally happens in negotiations. In the end, the Democrats and the president refused every offer and would not negotiate on the issue.

The deal signed into law by the president last night met every one of his demands with the only concessions to Republicans being to investigate and report back on establishing an income verification system for Obamacare subsidies.

The other victory of sorts for the Republicans was that the sequester cuts do remain in place for the foreseeable future. The cuts, which kicked in when both parties were unable to come to an agreement over a budget, essentially rolled back the government to 2008 levels, before Obama assumed office.

The sequester cuts have long been a bone of contention to Democrats, despite their being Obama’s idea. It is expected that the Democrats will attempt to roll back the cuts as part of the upcoming budget negotiations.