Shutdown Fever Again Grips Washington.

Speaker Johnson

In late spring, President Biden and House GOP leadership worked to pass legislation known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) as part of a larger deal to suspend the debt ceiling and set budget caps for Congress to work from when it hashes out its full-year funding bills months later. That negotiating period is just around the corner, as lawmakers gear up for a fiscal spending fight in January.

The Hill’s Tobias Burns and Aris Folley report that critical components of that months-old deal, which were not reflected in the law, are now in question. Ultraconservatives, in pursuit of steeper cuts amid climbing debt, say Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is not beholden to what Democrats say is the full commitment made by McCarthy.
— BY KRISTINA KARISCH , 'The Hill'

Funding for the government is the bane of both the left and the right because disappointing core constituencies means electoral defeat and nothing is more important than appropriations. The deficit continues to grow with entitlements eating up the majority of the non-discretionary spending but reducing benefits is a political minefield and generally off limits. Picking other programs to cut lies at the heart of the spending fights.

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