Two thirds of the budget don't go thru the budget process. They are on automatic pilot.
And there is no way we can default since revenue is more than sufficient to cover our debt servicing costs, which are $221 billion a year.
We can't afford the spending in the first place. Playing games with default lets politicians pretend that we can, since they won't do the hard work of actually cutting a single bloated program. And then they go through this farce to pretend that they're actually the proper stewards of the public purse.
The ones playing games are those who say we are going to default and damage the faith and credit of the USG. There will be no default unless the WH plays games.
The "bloated programs" that are driving our debt are the entitlement programs. They must be reformed or they will consume the entire federal budget. Medicare is the worst offender of all. Congress does not do an annual budget for Medicare or Social Security. Our entitlement program costs will continue to soar as 10,000 baby boomers will retire every day for the next 20 years doubling the size of our population over 65. By 2030 one in five in this country will be 65 or older. Today, there are 3.3 workers for every retiree and by 2030 there will be just two. How much can we tax our children and grandchildren to pay for all of this? Answer: We can't. The programs are unsustainable.
This isn't the time to pick this fight.* We need instead to hold so-called "conservative" politicians accountable for the credit card bills they ring up. Pretending we won't pay the bill now is as disingenuous as it is dangerous.
In FY 2013 we spent $700 billion more than we collected in revenue. That is more than we spend on non-defense discretionary (the entire federal government except for defense) or more than the entire amount we spend on defense. Again, you must reform the so-called mandatories. Otherwise, it is impossible to balance the budget.
We are paying the bill by borrowing more money that future generations will have to pay back.