Budget showdowns have a way of inspiring leaders to predict national calamity should their side not prevail. In 1995, some Clinton allies warned that the elderly would be forced to eat dog food if the government shut down. Now President Bush and Republicans warn that troops are at risk of assorted deprivations because Democrats passed House and Senate funding bills tied to withdrawal from Iraq in 2008. Bush is sure to veto them. He's right that without congressional funding, military operations would eventually have to be scaled back. But calamity is not exactly imminent. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service recently found...
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