Governing to the Brink

A senior government official who was involved in the spending negotiations over the past few weeks told Jonathan Swan the experience taught them something disturbing.

Said the official: “We’re going to go to the edge on everything.”

“The White House has just gotten through a spending fight that pushed Congress — and the federal workforce affected by the shutdown — to the brink. But even uglier skirmishes are imminent, including whether to raise the federal government’s debt limit and break Congress’ self-imposed budget caps.”