It may take a bigger gavel for House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R‑WI) and his Senate counterpart Patty Murray (D‑WA) to hammer out a budget agreement. (Credit: Swampland Times)
Budget negotiators have struggled for nearly two months to find agreement on the outlines of a spending bill that would fund the government after January 15. The target date for a deal is next Friday. They hope to meet it.
The agreement that continues to elude them, if it comes at all, would be a small one. Gone are aspirations for a “grand bargain” that would reform entitlements and the tax code and replace future across-the-board cuts with something less mindless. Changes to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other “mandatory” spending programs, which together constitute 63 percent of non-interest government spending, are off the table. So, too, are taxes. Continue reading