EXCERPT:
"The chance that the [Congress] will pass a budget this year is “fading,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Tuesday.
He is pessimistic because House [members] don’t know whether they want to pass a resolution that would officially acknowledge the certainty of big deficits. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and other Democrats have indicated that would be a tough vote in an election year.
QUESTIONS:
Think about what this excerpt suggests about the "time horizon" of government decision-makers. In the short run, who benefits from their reluctance to deal with the deficit problem? In the long run, who bears the cost?
