Bruce Bartlett tells it like it is

We're Heading Directly Into A Budget Train Wreck

Many economists believe that the Great Recession resulted from a “perfect storm” of various factors that were not too serious individually, but when combined interacted in ways that created a crisis that was larger than the sum of the contributing causes.

Something similar is developing with the federal budget. We are facing a confluence of factors that would be manageable in isolation, but will be extraordinarily difficult to deal with simultaneously.

The first problem is that Republicans reclaimed the House of Representatives having made promises that are impossible to keep. House Republicans often talk as if they control the entire government, rather than just half of one branch.