Get Ready for Two Big Budget Showdowns in Congress

[Geee]

Heritage Foundation:

It hasn’t gotten much attention, but two big budget showdowns are looming in Washington in the weeks ahead. The first is what to do about raising the $18-trillion debt ceiling. And the second is whether to retain the spending caps/sequester cuts in the 2016 budget. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced last week that Congress will bump up against the debt ceiling in November.

 

These fights take on special salience now because voters are rightfully angry about the fiscal mismanagement in Washington over the past several years. In 2015, the U.S. government ran up one of the largest budget deficits in history—borrowing more than $1 billion a day seven days a week and twice on Sunday.

 

President Obama has made his demands clear. He wants to bust the spending caps this year, and he wants a debt ceiling extension from Congress with no strings attached. Outgoing House Speaker John Boehner says he will “clean the stables” on this issue before he leaves office, and some are interpreting this as a sign that he will avoid a conflict and agree to Obama’s demands.

 

If Republicans don’t get this right, it could so demoralize conservatives that it would doom their chances of winning the White House in 2016, no matter who the candidate is.