Congressional Leaders Make a Deal on the US Federal Budget

Surprise, surprise, Democratic and GOP leaders actually reached a deal on the Federal Budget.  The real challenge is, however, making sure the deal translates into a Budget.  In truth, the minor concessions made in terms of revenue increases, spending cuts, and spending increases seem to be rather nonsensical in terms of what our economy and government needs while the minor policy changes will affect minor segments of our population in disproportionate ways.  

That said, the current state of politics probably demands a “baby steps” approach.  Just passing a functional Budget and making minor tweaks is progress in terms of making government less dysfunctional.  As such, legislators need to pivot toward fiscal issues like tax reform, which is also necessary to address economic inequality and debt reduction in order to fix America’s fiscal and economic troubles.  A failure to do so will guarantee the legacies of our current elected officials will be marked by disaster.