Budget disputes resurface at the US Congress

Barring a major mistake by pollsters (it wouldn’t be the first time), the Democrats will cede control of at least one of the two houses of Congress in the mid-term elections. A divided Congress would signal the return of the kind of budgetary wrangling that characterised Barack Obama's presidency between 2011 and 2014. The Republicans imposed a fiscal tightening, which curbed economic growth. Bruised by this experience, the Democrats could put up greater resistance. But the fisca...