U.S. government agencies could run out of operating funds starting on midnight this Friday, December 7th.

At issue: President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. He wants Congress to commit $5 billion for construction of a wall along portions of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The migrant caravan that recently attempted to crash the border near Tijuana has helped rally Republicans to support his request.

It may be now or never for Trump’s wall. In the next Congress, presumptive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be able to kill any of Trump’s legislative priorities.

At present, Trump faces obstacles in the Senate, where Democrats seem intent on blocking wall funding. If both sides can’t agree to a spending bill by Friday, then a partial government shutdown could ensue.

Government shutdowns have become almost routine in recent years. So have the short-sighted political resolutions that raise debt ceilings and grow budget deficits.

The true budgetary crisis facing Washington isn’t the threat of another shutdown, but the threat of business as usual resuming in Congress.

The outgoing GOP majority proved that no matter which party is in charge, federal spending keeps growing unsustainably.

When Democrats take power next year, you can bet spending restraint won’t make their list of priorities – especially since a new crop of avowed socialists (see Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) will be seated among their ranks.

Even if the next Congress miraculously pares down the $1 trillion budget deficit it is projected to run, the government will still face a massive surge in debt coming due.

Almost nobody is talking about it now, but trillions of dollars in Treasuries will soon have to be rolled over.

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