October 1, 2013, 2:50 pm 363 Comments

The G.O.P. Definition of ‘Negotiation’

By DAVID FIRESTONE

Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto AgencyJohn Boehner leads House Republicans as they exit the Capitol following the beginning of a government shutdown on Oct. 1, 2013. 

There were outbursts of disbelieving laughter from Democrats on Capitol Hill last night when the final demand from House Republicans arrived shortly before the midnight shutdown: a conference to negotiate their differences.

Of all the things Republicans could have asked, a conference was the most ludicrous, because they have never wanted a serious negotiation. In most cases, they have outright refused to bargain with Democrats, or have done so, as in 2011, only when economic disaster was imminent.

President Obama’s hopes for a grand bargain in 2011 quickly disintegrated when Speaker John Boehner left the table, unable to make any concession on taxes. The sequester was supposed to be a temporary solution to the Republican threat of default that year, one that would be undone when the “super-committee” — a kind of grand conference committee — came up with a better plan. But Republicans refused to compromise in that group, too, and the sequester continues.

Earlier this year, Mr. Obama tried to entice Republicans back to the table with a budget offer to reduce the cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients, precisely the kind of entitlement cut Republicans like to demand in front of the cameras. (Democrats hated the idea.) But almost immediately, Republicans began trashing the concept, saying it was a “shocking attack on seniors.” The House budget chairman, Paul Ryan, said there could be no grand bargain if Mr. Obama insisted on tax increases for the rich. Again, no negotiation.

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Over the rest of the year, Republicans repeatedly refused to agree to a conference committee with Senate Democrats. Why? Senators Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz said a committee might agree to even some of the Democratic proposals on tax and revenue increases.

The Republican position has been clear for three years: they will refuse to negotiate if negotiation could mean having to give something up. But they will loudly demand a negotiation over something that is not open to compromise, namely a settled law from 2009 they disagree with because it will show the necessity of government’s role in making health insurance available to all. A fanatic’s definition of compromise is when only the other side must give in.

At a half-empty bargaining table this morning, Majority Leader Eric Cantor accused Democrats of “silliness” in being unwilling to talk. But it’s not silliness; it’s experience. Democrats know, after years of being burned, that Republicans have no interest in true compromise. They only want to extort, and the long table is just a prop.