indexIf you think the passage of a two-year budget agreement in December alleviated the prospect of another government shutdown; you are wrong!

Everyone has been focusing on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act or as it is commonly known, “ObamaCare.”  But one has to be mindful of an equally troublesome crisis: the continuation of October’s government shutdown, the raising of the debt ceiling.

The budget that was agreed upon in October allows the treasury to keep borrowing until Feb 7th in paying the nation’s debt to avoid default.  Without an agreement, the Treasury Department can use accounting maneuvers called “extraordinary maneuvers” to keep paying the bills without triggering the debt limit.

During the last standoff the Treasury Department used these extraordinary measures which lasted five months, but unfortunately it will not have the same amount of time as it has to payout large tax refunds in February.

Both sides have taken different approaches on how it approaches the debt ceiling crisis.

The Republicans will only raise the debt ceiling if the President will include cutting government spending. The president wants a clean debt ceiling approach without any pre-conditions.

In his final 2013 news conference, when he was asked by CNN’s Brianna Keillar, “Will you negotiate with House Republicans on the debt ceiling?”  The president’s response, “Oh, Brianna, you know the answer to this question.  No, we’re not going to negotiate for Congress to pay bills that it has accrued.”

This was a far different approach when then Senator Obama in 2006, voted against increasing the debt ceiling,  “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure,” Obama said on the Senate floor at the time. “Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally.  Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.  America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

Currently, Speaker of the House John Boehner, has not signaled in which direction he will head only that, “The goal for today is to get the budget agreement passed,” he said, “and we’ll deal with the debt ceiling when we get there.”  The budget agreement had passed and signed by the president, but at this point hasn’t singled which direction he is leaning.

The Republican leadership is still smarting over its strategy which led to the government showdown and external divisions within its ranks; especially from Tea Party members.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., was asked last month on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he could preview his party’s approach to the upcoming fight, he seemed inclined to throw up his hands and simply walk away.

Neither party seems to muscle the moral courage in addressing the staggering U.S. national Debt which it currently over $17 trillion dollars.

The president failed to take one recommendation from his own deficit commission which he launched in 2010, which included reforming entitlement spending.  Entitlement spending currently accounts for 62% of federal spending but can’t be altered unless you change the law.  Reforming the nations entitlement programs have been anathema to Democrats, as reforming defense spending is to Republicans.  Both political parties have to have their cherished programs as part of any budget agreement or we will never get a handle on the massive federal debt.

If the country is to regain its fiscal health, it will need leadership from both political parties; both political parties got us into the mess and it will take both political parties to get us out.

One could begin to eliminate the over $200 billion dollars in fraud, waste, duplication and mismanagement as highlighted by Sen. Coburn, in conjunction with the General Accounting Office (GAO) of egregious government spending.

This should be a starting point for getting the nation’s fiscal house in order; families do it every day, why can’t the government!