March 3, 2011 9:22AM # Two-Week Budgets? By [Roger Pilon](https://www.cato.org/people/roger-pilon) --- SHARE Today [POLITICO Arena](http://www.politico.com/arena) asks: > Are two-week budgets the new normal? The White House and congressional Democrats are looking for longer-term extensions. Are short-term extensions an irresponsible way to conduct the budget process? Or are they an opportunity for congressional Republicans to shrink the federal government, by keeping a tight grip on the nation’s purse strings? My response: Well how has the “old normal” worked out? Runaway spending, deficits, and debt as far as the eye can see. If it takes two-week budgets to keep the nation’s eye on the ball, so be it, as the man said. That’s what the last election was about. But the Democrats, and some Republicans, still don’t get it. *Of course* they want a longer-term extension. They want us distracted. So is the two-week budget irresponsible? Not when it’s the antidote to the irresponsibility that got us into this mess. Come to think of it, how about two-week budgets right up until November 2012? ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).