John Boehner poised to hand successor Paul Ryan a stunning agreement on debt, spending

In Kansas City, anyway, we are enamored of baseball speak.

So let’s just say that outgoing U.S. House Speaker John Boehner is teeing up to hit a home run that may save his probable successor, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, a season’s worth of grief.

News services were reporting Monday night that Boehner was close to putting together a bipartisan deal that would spare Ryan the unenviable task of cobbling together a deal to pass an increase in the debt ceiling immediately after assuming the House leadership post.

There’s more. Boehner’s parting gift may also involve an agreement on government funding levels through the end of the next fiscal year.

That would mean no brinksmanship, no fiscal cliffs, no government shutdown threats or default countdown clocks.

Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who reluctantly agreed to seek the undesirable speaker’s job, could enjoy a period of relative tranquility that Boehner himself rarely experienced.

As of midday Monday, such a positive development appeared far out of reach.

Boehner failed last week to pass a bill that would have increased the ceiling while putting untenable limits on executive power to appease the House’s radical right caucus.

The idea was to pass a bill that everyone knew couldn’t pass in the Senate, but that could be amended into a “clean” debt ceiling increase that President Barack Obama would be willing to sign.

But obstructionists saw through that, and Boehner was forced to pull the measure from the floor when he realized he was dozens of votes shy of a majority.

The biggest obstacle, as usual, was irresponsible hardline members of the House Republican caucus who don’t view ensuring that the nation can meet its current fiscal obligations as the basic responsibility that it is.

Instead, they see the full faith and credit of the United States of America as a bargaining chip. Unless Democrats give them something they say they will not agree to the debt ceiling increase.

This is fiscal insanity. Failing to increase the debt ceiling could shut down the government. It could cause America to default on some of its debts. Financial markets would plunge, and borrowing costs well into the future could increase dramatically.

If the standoff lingered, it could lead directly to another global recession.

Boehner’s deal reportedly would raise the debt ceiling and increase spending by about $80 billion over two years above the current budget caps.

The tradeoff would involve cuts in spending on Medicare and Social Security disability benefits and other programs, including changes to strategic petroleum reserves.

Nothing is guaranteed at this point. Republican extremists may yet balk. More moderate members may exert themselves. Ryan himself may have opposed this particular deal as a rank-and-file member of the caucus.

Yet a sweeping bipartisan compromise seems within reach. If so, it would mark a crowning achievement for Boehner as he leaves Congress after essentially having been shown the door by the ultra-conservatives.

The simple truth, to which Boehner yielded after years of effort, is this: The current House Republican caucus is ungovernable and unrealistic. Too many of its members don’t understand the limits of their power — or how American government was designed to work.

If Boehner somehow manages to reach a compromise on both the debt ceiling and appropriations this week, he will have achieved a later-October miracle on his way to retirement.

And he will have given Ryan invaluable time and space to form coalitions and try to mold his unwieldy caucus into one that legislates not out of anger, but for the good of the nation.

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 3:38 PM with the headline "John Boehner poised to hand successor Paul Ryan a stunning agreement on debt, spending."