Holiday Season? More like Budgets, Obamacare, and Debt Limits

I was reading through some articles on Drudge Report and ran across this one – not overly informative, but I felt it interesting enough to share.  Mike Flynn with Breitbart writes: Countdown: US Hits Debt Ceiling in 84 Days…..

Twelve weeks from today, the US government will hit its borrowing limit. When Congress lifted the debt ceiling last month, for the first time ever, it pegged the increase to a specific date, rather than a dollar amount. The current borrowing authority expires in just 84 days, on February 7th. 

Three major policy challenges are converging in January. Government spending authority expires in the middle of the month, just three weeks ahead of the debt ceiling. There is also likely to be ongoing agonizing about the implementation of ObamaCare. 

January 1st is the deadline for individuals to have insurance. If the website isn’t fixed or if young and healthy Americans haven’t yet signed up for coverage, insurers will begin panicking and ObamaCare itself could start to unravel. Millions of healthy individuals are needed in the exchanges to subsidize the costs of treating sick and elderly patients. There could be additional measures in Congress to change or delay the law. 

Budget, ObamaCare and Debt. It’s the ultimate three-ring DC circus. With his approval ratings exploring new lows, Obama has little political capital for leverage. He won’t be able to run the tables on all three issues. He will have to give somewhere.

It may be the biggest decision of his Presidency. 

In reading this, I cannot help but think about the upcoming weeks and the traditions that so many of us look forward to every year.  While Americans are cooking turkeys, buying gifts, decorating homes, and traveling to see relatives – the government will be debating the three most important and most impactful things Congress will be responsible for this year.  This isn’t the first holiday season with Congress making headlines instead of cheerful holiday stories, but hopefully this won’t become a recurring theme and Congress will finally make some decisions.