Calls for the party to argue for growth measures outside the Treasury's "fiscal mandate" was overwhelmingly defeated in a vote following a conference debate.

BBC: UK Politics

The fiscal mandate Mr Osborne set himself in June 2010 stated that he had to get rid of the deficit on that measure in the space of five years.

BBC: Autumn Statement: A wintry statement of reality

Or, you could criticise Mr Osborne for being too flexible, for allowing past borrowing targets to be missed and appealing, in Gordon Brown fashion, to the fiscal mandate's fine print.

BBC: Mr Osborne's unwelcome statement

The key to their argument was that the government's deficit rules allow capital spending to be increased without abandoning Plan A as the Treasury's so-called "fiscal mandate" targets current not capital spending.

BBC: Switching spending to capital projects

More centrist Democrats share the goal of universal coverage, but have gravitated toward a regulate-mandate-subsidize model because it has a lower explicit fiscal cost and keeps much of the insurance market in private hands.

FORBES: How Obamacare's Rejection Would Lead to Single Payer

The Germans - indeed northern Europe - have created a trap for themselves in which it is either fiscal union or a rough-hewn fiscal union in which the ECB does the heavy lifting, in defiance of its mandate and culture, and the instincts of the national central banks.

BBC: The Sarko smackdown!

Such surprises frequently compel the federal government to give urgent attention to its constitutional mandate to "provide for the common defense, " often at the expense of fiscal discipline and other priorities.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Job #1 for Congress