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This is not correct. Party conflict (which is what Friedman referred to) is not the same as gridlock.

To balance a budget you have to adjust spending and revenue. To do that you have to pass new bills. This is what happened during the late 1990s: the GOP Congress and the Democratic administration were forced to compromise with one another. They passed a new budget that resulted in the balanced budget.

But during gridlock, it is impossible to get new bills past the 60 vote barrier.

Gridlock does not create new balanced budgets, it creates omnibus continuing resolutions. CR's spend and tax exactly as they did last year. If last year wasn't balanced, next year under a CR will not be balanced either.




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