EDITORIAL: House Speaker Boehner's parting gift

In the scheme of things the budget deal reached between Congress and the White House is not really a big deal — but it is. And it was made possible by House Speaker John Boehner, who is set to leave his post this week. When he announced his resignation last month, it threw Republican members into a tizzy. And while they were busy blowing themselves up, Boehner was working with Democratic and Republican House leadership to bring this budget deal about. He was also working with Senate leadership of both parties.

The deal avoids two nasty fights that threatened to shut down the government and do further harm to our military capabilities. The 144-page bill avoids a debt ceiling fight and — believe it or not — military and other spending will increase modestly by $80 billion over two years. Medicare premiums won't increase sharply and Social Security benefits won't be cut.

The move by Boehner also clears the deck for his likely successor, Rep. Paul Ryan, R- Wis., who was nominated Wednesday. While Ryan said of the deal, "The process stinks," he's probably breathing a sigh of relief. As speaker, he was going to have to corral the far-right Freedom Caucus that drove Boehner from office in order to get the debt ceiling raised and a budget deal passed. Now those two issues will sit quietly until after a new president takes office in 2017. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 10:04 PM with the headline "EDITORIAL: House Speaker Boehner's parting gift ."