Analysis: This is only the first of many spending fights to come
As a day of budget chicken ended with a Band-Aid budget deal to keep the government running until at least mid-week, President Obama and Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill were able to avoid headlines of unpaid troops and blows to a fragile economy. But throughout Friday, the harsh rhetoric over negotiations on the final five-plus months of the 2011 budget provided a preview of far bigger battles on the 2012 budget and the debt ceiling that have already begun.
Late Friday night, House Speaker John Boehner announced that he, Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had agreed on short- and long-term agreements that would “in fact cut spending and keep our government open.” Obama followed minutes later, stressing bipartisanship and “the largest annual spending cuts in our history.”