The bipartisan deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit, hailed by both parties, barely moves the needle on pandemic-era government spending nor fixes the causes of runaway growth in the federal budget.

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touted his state’s response to COVID-19 on Saturday, claiming they chose “freedom over Fauci-ism,” amid former President Trump’s recent attacks on his pandemic record. “We held the line when freedom itself hung in the balance,” DeSantis argued during Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) annual Roast and Ride fundraiser...