The barn is still full to the rafters with fecal matter.
Via WaPo:
John A. Boehner told everyone that he was going to “clean out the barn” for new House speaker Paul D. Ryan. Boehner’s parting gift to his successor was a promise to clear the decks of all the tough issues.
But he could not pull that off completely while also passing a sweeping budget deal, so as Boehner (R-Ohio) exits, he leaves behind several key issues that will test Ryan’s leadership style and determine whether the Wisconsin Republican will have any more success in wrangling the GOP caucus than Boehner did.
By Nov. 20, Congress must act on the expiring authority for the federal highway program, an issue that also could lead to another flare-up of the expiration of the Export-Import Bank’s authority to issue new loan guarantees. After that comes the Dec. 11 deadline for filling in all of the agency-by-agency details of spending plans, a process that was made easier because this week’s budget framework resolved the larger fight over the top-line dollar figure but defers intricate fights over funding levels for hot-button issues.
So, while the nameplates outside the speaker’s office formally flipped Friday morning, many of the same fights that led the most conservative faction to cause trouble for the old speaker remain in place for the new one.
“I think there’s a chance that part of the government will be shut down if Ryan can’t control these 50 or 60 people,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of his party’s leadership, said in an interview.