The battle over the budget comes to a head this week as the continuing resolution passed late last year expires Friday. If Congress fails to act before the deadline, the federal government will shut down. The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a continuing resolution which will keep government operating through September. It contains cuts in domestic spending and increases in defense outlays.

The House leadership turned to a continuing resolution after it failed to get enough Republican support for a package which would have made deeps cuts in Medicaid spending. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his party are between a rock and a hard place. If the government shuts down, it will freeze Trump’s imperial presidency in place.

If the Republican House passes the package with the big billionaire tax cuts and severe Medicaid spending reductions, it will put vulnerable Republicans facing tough reelection campaigns next year on thin ice.

President Trump’s bloated address to Congress and the nation last week was a prelude to the battle over the budget which is really about the nation’s economic future. His speech was a great piece of performance art laced with a litany of lies about the state of the economy and the shape of the federal budget.

The president simply parroted

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