While a strong brew of internecine party politics and special interest lobbying appears to have made passage of the FY 2015 budget difficult, don’t be deceived. The budget battle is over the stagnant $1.1 trillion discretionary portion of the budget. The $2.4 trillion and growing mandatory spending (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, interest payments) portion sailed through unscathed and that’s where all our long-term fiscal problems are. It’s classic Congressional bait-and-switch.