One outcome is clear as Washington reaches for a budget deal to end the debt ceiling standoff: The ambitious COVID era of government spending — to cope with the pandemic and rebuild in its aftermath — is giving way to a new fiscal focus on tailored investments and stemming deficits.
President Joe Biden has said that recouping unspent COVID-19 funds is “on the table” in budget talks with Congress. And while the White House has threatened to veto Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling bill with its “devastating cuts” to federal programs, the administration has signaled a willingness to consider other budget caps.
