The nation’s debt is taking center stage as DC grapples with a June deadline that is fast approaching with no deal on the horizon to fend off a default. The GOP controlled House has new leverage to force a spending reduction that will allow them to save face and make good on a campaign promises to lower the nation’s expenditures. Shutting the government down is not what most member of Congress (not all) or the White House want to do because neither can predict who the public will blame for the catastrophe. Avoiding the public blame game is the ultimate power play in DC and it may just come down to that.