The sight of the Republicans in Congress suddenly prepared to shut down the government over excessive deficits could lead some readers to believe that they were doing some serious grandstanding. After all, the Bush era deficits didn't seem to trouble them too much. But, the New York Times assures us that they are acting from pure motives. It told readers that the delay in passing a continuing resolution that will keep the government funded "signaled growing unease in Congress, among Democrats and Republicans, over the levels of government spending in recent months and the staggering increase in the federal deficit." That's really good to know, it would have been awful if they were just playing politics.
--Dean Baker