“Discretionary spending has been declining steadily for four decades, interrupted only by the Iraq War and the Great Recession. The new budget deal will keep it at about 6 percent of GDP, the same as it was in 2000 and far less than it was in 1980. This is hardly a picture of a budget that’s skyrocketing out of control. If the hawks want to gripe about mandatory spending—primarily Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other social welfare programs—that’s fine. Gripe away. But today’s budget deal has nothing to do with that.”
Kevin Drum, Mother Jones

Many argue, “It's official: Conservatives only care about deficits when a Democrat is president… Everyone in Washington seems to suddenly accept the economic and political benefits of government spending, as the GOP hopes to keep the stock market goosed past Trump's reelection. While it's great that Washington appears to have avoided another truly stupid, self-inflicted government shutdown, Congress is whistling past the graveyard. That's because deficits are growing while the economy is booming — up 23% in the first nine months of the fiscal year alone. That's not supposed to happen. And there will be hell to pay when the remorseless math of rapidly falling tax revenue kicks in during the next downturn.”
John Avlon, CNN

“It's often overlooked, but the biggest economic improvement since Trump took office is more government spending.”
Michael Madowitz, Twitter

“I don’t doubt that many House members elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010 truly thought they were helping the economy by trying to bring federal spending down… But Congressional Republicans’ overall loss of interest in deficit reduction after Trump’s inauguration does seem to indicate that partisan calculations were paramount… House Democrats, meanwhile, have far less ideological reason to oppose increases in government spending. But their unwillingness since taking charge in January to play hardball on legislation that might endanger the ongoing expansion also seems to bespeak a different attitude toward partisanship and macroeconomic policy. House Republicans were willing to hold the U.S. economy hostage for partisan advantage. House Democrats have not been.”
Justin Fox, Bloomberg

“Many progressives seem to want Democrats to learn from the scorched-earth tactics of Republicans. But Republicans would be wiser to learn from the bargaining strategy of Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Except for a brief shutdown in January 2018 over immigration that was quickly, and wisely, abandoned, congressional Democrats haven’t tried to take the government hostage during the Trump administration. (The only protracted shutdown of the Trump presidency was instigated by Trump, effectively taking his own government hostage in order to win border wall money. It didn’t work.) Instead, Democratic leaders have negotiated budget agreements with Republicans in good faith, and they have won policy victories in the process.”
Bill Scher, Politico

Regarding the debt ceiling, “rather than treating [it] as a matter of good housekeeping, politicians have fallen into the habit of flirting with default, engaging in bouts of brinkmanship that culminate in ad hoc deals on borrowing and spending. Congress seems unable to perform its duties unless it is acting under the threat of crisis… This is not a good way to run a government.”
Editorial Board, New York Times

“In 2011, debt-rating agency Standard & Poors decided the U.S. no longer deserved the firm’s highest credit score, mostly because of the federal government’s refusal to free the Treasury’s borrowing authority from political gamesmanship. The Government Accountability Office said in 2012 that the delays in raising the debt ceiling in 2011 cost the government $1.3 billion in higher interest payments that year… if political leaders want to prioritize fiscal responsibility, they shouldn’t need a legal mechanism to do so; they should simply act accordingly.”
Kevin Carmichael, NBC News