The Week: The Republican Budget Blowup

• The real drone mystery is why the aliens picked New Jersey.

• Republicans keep fumbling the budget. Speaker Mike Johnson was facing a revolt over a continuing resolution that would have averted a government shutdown but also included extraneous legislation on ethanol regulation, child-care subsidies, regulations on so-called junk fees by ticket sellers, a pay raise for Congress, giving RFK Stadium to the District of Columbia in exchange for moving an Air National Guard squadron to Maryland, full federal funding for a new bridge in Baltimore, and the American Music Tourism Act. At the eleventh hour, President-elect Donald Trump condemned the bill and instead supported a slightly watered-down version that also included a debt-ceiling increase. It failed too, with fiscal conservatives opposed on principled grounds and most Democrats opposed on partisan ones. The best course now would be to pass a clean bill, leave the debt ceiling to next year, and make a plan to ensure that the recent tradition of gigantic must-pass late-December bills ends in 2024. If, that is, enough Republicans remain on speaking terms to work something out.

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• The real drone mystery is why the aliens picked New Jersey.

• Republicans keep fumbling the budget. Speaker Mike Johnson was facing a revolt over a continuing resolution that would have averted a government shutdown but also included extraneous legislation on ethanol regulation, child-care subsidies, regulations on so-called junk fees by ticket sellers, a pay raise for Congress, giving RFK Stadium to the District of Columbia in exchange for moving an Air National Guard squadron to Maryland, full federal funding for a new bridge in Baltimore, and the American Music Tourism Act. At the eleventh hour, President-elect Donald Trump condemned the bill and instead supported a slightly watered-down version that also included a debt-ceiling increase. It failed too, with fiscal conservatives opposed on principled grounds and most Democrats opposed on partisan ones. The best course now would be to pass a clean bill, leave the debt ceiling to next year, and make a plan to ensure that the recent tradition of gigantic must-pass late-December bills ends in 2024. If, that is, enough Republicans remain on speaking terms to work something out.