Capital perspective.

• Author: Baker, Jason
• Position: Federal spending and deficit reduction

As SPRINGTIME ROLLS into yet another hot summer here in the District of Columbia, the heat is also skyrocketing between a split Congress and the White House on a number of different fronts, with federal spending and deficit reduction serving as the primary focal point.

Since House Republicans took control of the majority in the House of Representatives this past January, they have been able to control the debate inside the beltway and focus most of the attention on Capitol Hill, towards cutting the federal budget and reducing the deficit. If you'll recall, the first big-ticket item of the 112th Congress was the testy negotiations between House Republicans and the Obama Administration over the remainder of the FY 2011 budget, which nearly caused a government-wide shutdown and made many federal employees look in the mirror to try and figure out how "essential" or "non-essential" they actually were.

Currently, negotiations are being held on a number of different levels on different types of fiscal matters, one of which is working to raise the federal deficit ceiling to prevent the American Treasury from defaulting on its currents debts, with action needed before the national debt reaches the debt ceiling this August. Currently, the "Gang of Six" in the Senate is working on short and long-term deficit reduction strategies while Vice President Biden hosts other talks with both House and Senate leaders on a deficit reduction package that can pass Congress and win votes to raise the debt ceiling.

While all of these negotiations continue with no resolution in sight, the FY 2012 budget remains in limbo with FY 2012 beginning a few short months from now. I'll have more on this later.

With all of the above in mind, the 2012 presidential campaign season has begun to pick up steam as several prominent Republican presidential candidates have officially thrown their hats in the ring, including former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Tea Party favorite Rep. Michelle Bachmann and former governor of Utah and ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, joining GOP frontrunnet and former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, former governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty and former Pennsylvania senator, Rick Santorum.

Why is this important? During presidential campaign season--which has increased in length by leaps and bounds over the past decade--action on legislation tends to grind to a halt, with only must-pass measures such as yearly spending bills and...