THE HUFFINGTON POST How America's Debt And Deficit Became An Afterthought In Washington by JIM KUHNHENN: 02/20/2014 WASHINGTON (AP) — Just four years ago, deficits and debt were an explosive political combination, propelling Republicans to control of the House and fueling the budget fights that would ensue over the next three years. Today, they are an afterthought — a dying ember in Washington's political and policy landscape. The nation's annual deficit, the amount the government spends beyond what it receives in revenue, has been cut by nearly two-thirds from its 2009 high, thanks to a combination of tax increases, an improving economy and mandatory across-the-board cuts in programs from defense to transportation to education. And lawmakers, fatigued by their budget battles, have called a truce and abandoned the brinkmanship that led to unnerving default threats and a partial government shutdown. As a result, the impulse to cut will be decidedly weaker when President Barack Obama's submits his latest budget plan to Congress early next month. The White House drove home the point Thursday when it said Obama's budget would drop his past offer to cut spending on federal benefits with lower cost-of-living increases for beneficiaries. "It's hard to deny that there is less political momentum at this moment, in the year 2014, for the type of extensive budget negotiations we saw in 2011 and 2012," said Gene Sperling, the director of the White House's National Economic Council and a close Obama adviser. 1 age of 3 EFTA01189827