How the Congress is Going to Draw Budget Battle Lines

How the Congress is Going to Draw Budget Battle Lines

With short time away from releasing the budget proposal, the Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are revising their stands in the coming fight over how to fund the government. The Republicans are outlining what would amount to $74 billion in cuts from the budget President Obama requested and failed to get last year. The Republicans' cuts would amount to about $36 billion in actual reductions from the current funding levels.

Their "Pledge to America" issued during the 2010 midterm campaign brought the GOP back into control of the House, and $100 billion in cuts compared to President Obama's budget for the current fiscal year which in fact was not enacted .

Big deficits and debt in the presence of the recession, two wars and other spending is driving the issue in Washington. Under current funding levels, this year's deficit is estimated to be $1.5 trillion or 9.8 percent of GDP. Leaving the cumulative debts owed by the government close to 77 percent of GDP by 2021.

It seems that many Republicans want to force a government shutdown, repeating the same mistake made in 1995. House and Democratic majority in the Senate means the federal government could shut down. That outcome doesn't appear likely, but the Democratic leaders in the Senate want to paint House Republicans as the side willing to risk a shutdown.

 While a government shutdown freezes essential services, it can be politically beneficial. When President Clinton and a Republican Congress failed to reach an agreement on funding in November 1995, the federal government was closed off and on until a resolution in 1996. In that year's presidential election, President Clinton was able to win reelection easily over Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, and many political observers saw the shutdown as hurting the GOP more than Clinton.

Sources:
pbs.org
The Washington Post
firstread.msnbc
The Washington Post