Their goal was to come up with a deficit reduction plan. The process was under the budget control act, which ultimately passed, they set in motion a system called sequestration. The idea was if these 16 people could not come to an agreement on a way to reduce the deficit, there would be automatic budget cuts put in place. The budget control act as a 10 year duration. It expires after 2021. Right now, if we dont by statute increase the budget levels that are part of the budget control act, we will face cuts in the next fiscal year of about 125 billion. Relatively equally allocated against the defense and nondefense side. We have this cliff you are talking about. There is also the crisis of the debt ceiling which could have catastrophic effects on the financial markets. If congress cant agree to raise that. I want to know, how much of the burden is on democrats to find a solution that can work, a deal with republicans, if it is not an ideal situation. Democrats during the shutdown were a