In October, a partial shutdown of the federal government annoyed many Americans and dented an already weak economy.
Nonessential operations started grinding to a halt Oct. 1 because Congress hadn't passed a budget or done anything else to fund government for the fiscal year that began that day. For House Republican hard-liners, a twin set of fiscal deadlines – the dawn of the budget year and the Treasury's plea for Congress to raise the nation's arbitrary ceiling on public debt – offered a rare moment of political leverage against Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats. But the insurgents failed to win any tax or entitlement reform or to force a defunding of Obamacare.
What did happen? A 16-day shutdown that benefited neither party in opinion polls. Services deemed essential continued (Social Security checks kept flowing), but the episode may end up paring the economy's growth rate by 0.2 to 0.6 percentage points for the fourth quarter.
A bipartisan two-year compromise budget passed the House with overwhelming support Dec. 12. But the deal left the question: Would it merely postpone the next fiscal clash, or be a step toward more fiscal dealmaking?
– Mark Trumbull, Staff writer
