But they could only hold the Pubbies hostage if the spending was to increase.
That’s not quite true. If we’re still at a budget deficit, the debt will continue to grow. The only way to avoid that is to immediately balance the budget.
There is NO WAY that’s happening between now and 1/20. That was the job of DOGE to figure out. I’m not sure there’s even enough headroom in the budget to do it after setting aside entitlements, defense, and debt interest. We might have to grow the economy first to get revenues to overtake the deficit.