For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.





Congress has a grueling vacation schedule this month, and this will probably prevent them from doing any real work on passing a stopgap funding bill to keep the government running after September 30. So here’s the answer:

One group of conservatives on Thursday pressed what they called a compromise: a one-year stopgap spending bill that would raise the debt ceiling for a year, delay all aspects of the health care law for a year, and give back some of the Pentagon cuts as a sweetener. Backers insisted on Thursday that it was a package Mr. Obama should be able to accept.

Why yes! In return for Democrats doing something they hate, Republicans will agree to make them do something else they hate. That’s Negotiating 101, folks!

We are doomed.