First published: Prospectmagazine.co.uk blog, 11/12/2013
Another US government shutdown loomed earlier this week, but this time it was due to the weather, not the dysfunctional political wrangling that lasted for two weeks in October. Senior Republican and Democratic negotiators, Paul D. Ryan and Patty Murray, who chair the House and Senate Budget Committees, respectively, agreed to budgetary measures until the end of 2015 that will allow the government to function without risk of disruption.
The details still have to be approved by both House and Senate this week, and many of the same House Republicans who were prepared to risk the credibility and credit rating of the US government quite recently, have already accused their own leaders of going too far. But the chances are that the agreement will go through. How big a deal is it?….“more:”