re: For those that are hoping for meaningful legislation in the next 2 years...

Congress controls government funding, tax revenues are very lumpy, and we run a deficit (although it has shrunk dramatically). If Congress doesn't pass a funding bill, then we would have a "technical default". The ramifications of this and the application of such things are a completely different story, however debt servicing would likely be unaffected for a short period of time post "default" due to the payment mechanism the Treasury has for the US Treasury debt market.