Stalemate: A budget standoff in Congress

A budget standoff in Congress

It was early October, and the U.S. Government was running out of money. The Treasury warned of imminent bankruptcy and bouncing benefit checks. The Senate responded by raising the national debt ceiling to more than $2 trillion. Attached to the bill was the Gramm-Rudman Amendment, a dramatic proposal to reduce the federal deficit to zero in five years--and to show that Senate Republicans are serious about reducing deficits. The problem was now with the House.

It is early November, and the U.S. Government is still running out of money. A House-Senate conference has produced no compromise on Gramm-Rudman. The Treasury again...

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