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Congressional leaders may have more time to work out a deal this fall to increase the federal borrowing limit, after new projections from Congress’ scorekeeper showed tax revenues have been greater than expected this year. ... Republican leaders in both the House and the Senate are vowing to avoid a government shutdown or debt default in the coming months, but conservatives in both chambers have threatened to use the upcoming fiscal fights to advance unrelated political issues such as defunding Planned Parenthood. The later debt limit deadline may give leaders more time to try to bring conservatives on board, but aides from both parties said that formal discussions have not begun. ... The budget office on Tuesday also sounded its usual alarm that the government’s long-term budget path remains unsustainable due to the growing cost of entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Social Security. (Snell, 8/25)

An unforeseen flood of revenue is shrinking federal deficits to the lowest level of President Barack Obama's tenure, Congress' nonpartisan budget adviser said Tuesday. But in a report that will fuel both parties in their autumn clash over spending, the analysts also warned that perilously high shortfalls will roar back unless lawmakers act. ... Republicans said the report underscored the need to curb spending. Congress has already approved a blueprint claiming a balanced budget in a decade by squeezing savings from Medicare and Medicaid, and they want to retain caps on agency spending enacted in a 2011 budget deal. ... One major complication is conservatives' demands to halt federal spending on Planned Parenthood, whose officials were secretly captured in videos describing how they provide medical researchers with fetal tissue. Blocking that money would lead to likely clashes with Democrats and Obama. (8/25)