The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 by a Democratic Congress, and signed into law by Barack Obama. It was scored as "revenue neutral" by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) because it included estimates of $500 billion in Medicare cuts over the next ten years.
The Republicans regained control of the House by an overwhelming margin in 2010 and 2012 by promising to restore those cuts -- which they did.
The U.S. can't balance its budget because the strongest political forces are generally Republican voters. These are Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries, plus major U.S. defense contractors.
“The U.S. can’t balance its budget because the strongest political forces are generally Republican voters. These are Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries, plus major U.S. defense contractors.”
Good point The party dynamics have definitely changed from 20 years ago. I suppose the Republican party has supported large government spending for longer than 20 years, but they used to pretend better than they do now and there was still a difference between the spending levels they supported and what the Democrats were in favor of.
Even more dramatic has been the shift of the Democrat party from an anti-war party to a pro-war party, and it’s been surprising how easily Democrat voters have shifted with them. The Republicans still have their pro-war, neo-con wing but more and more the party is embracing a more circumspect attitude towards foreign engagements.