A shutdown of the United States government has been averted. At the last minute,negotiators from the Republican-controlled House of Representatives struck a deal with their Democratic Party counterparts from the Senate. The final compromise cuts $38.5 billion from the 2010 budget. While that sounds like a lot, it is barely a drop in the proverbial bucket of red ink that is drowning the U.S. economy. Worse, it is merely the first clash in a budget battle that is going to intensify.
This game of legislative "chicken" — daring the other side to do something stupid and dangerous, like shutting down the government when the economy is fragile — is no way to govern. It is difficult to take the idea of U.S. leadership seriously when its elected representatives act like this.
When he submitted his 2011 budget in February 2010, President Barack Obama proposed to spend $3.8 trillion. Despite controlling both houses of Congress, the Democrats did not pass the budget before the November elections, which gave the GOP control of the House of Representatives.