Pelosi’s strength stems from Boehner’s weakness: Hobbled by internal GOP divisions, and facing rebellious conservatives who would like to oust him from the speakership, Boehner cannot rally enough votes from his party to approve a spending bill. To pass a bill that would keep government agencies and departments running after Sept. 30, he will almost certainly have to rely on Democratic votes that Pelosi controls.

[…]

On the budget, Democratic leaders, after meeting with Obama at the White House last week, said they want a straightforward bill to keep government services running without new restrictions on Planned Parenthood.

But that’s just their opening bid. Democrats are also seeking talks to reverse the deep, across-the-board budget cuts, known as a sequester, which were imposed in 2013. Lawmakers in both parties, with the exception of Boehner’s most ardent small-government conservatives, want to undo some of the sequester cuts but disagree about how to do so.

Democrats are also aiming for longer-term investment in highway transportation funds that are set to run out Oct. 31. Also in the mix is reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, the 80-year-old government-backed lending entity that conservatives are trying to close.

The House Freedom Caucus is yet again going to be intransigent and end up with nothing, except maybe the scalp of John Boehner, whom they hate because he won’t shut down the government as they demand. If they ever learned how to negotiate, they might be a formidable group.

As it is, the HFC couldn’t organize a booze-up in a brewery if everyone brought a glass.

–alopecia