Peter Suderman on Balancing the Budget
With deficits exceeding $1 trillion and federal debt at $16 trillion and rising, Washington's budget wars have once again intensified. Just a few months into President Barack Obama's second term, House Republicans and the White House already have engaged in heated showdowns over the fiscal cliff, the federal debt limit, and "sequestration," a package of spending cuts that emerged as a result of a 2011 debt limit faceoff. But while both Republicans and Democrats say they want to cut deficits and debt, at least eventually, writes Peter Suderman, so far there has been little progress, and recent proposals to balance the budget seem as flawed as ever.