It is both hopeful and sobering, a difficult balance for the most skilled speaker to achieve, but Mr Bush manages it with ease.

BBC: Making his mark

The balance shifted in 1979, the Speaker said, when departmental select committees were introduced.

BBC: Commons Speaker calls for sweeping new committee powers

But the process that he went through with the Speaker of the House was all about trying to find the kind of balance that achieved the goal in an equitable way of significant and sweeping deficit reduction, and also did it in a way that it could pass Congress in both houses.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing