If you made a list of all the reasons why federal borrowing has spiraled out of control in recent years, the utter failure of Congress to pass a true budget would certainly rank near, or at, the very top.
Regular Reason readers know this fact well: Since 1996, Congress has never—yes, not even once—passed a budget on time and in full. It's probably not a coincidence that the late '90s were also the last time the federal budget was anywhere close to balancing.
