Well let's backtrack for a moment.
Back in 2011, President Obama appointed two former Senators, Simpson and Bowles, to come up with a way to deal with not only issue but the larger issue of the overall debt and annual deficits. The two men studied the problems, and came up with a series of compromises that they hoped would be acceptable to all sides: 80% spending cuts, 20% tax hikes, ending of corporate loopholes, and gradual changes to Social Security and Medicare.
Nobody loved the solutions. But in the summer of 2011, Obama got together with Boehner and they agreed together to accept them as the basis for a "grand bargain". Each side would be willing to give what they did not like, so as to get the other side to agree. The two sides were literally within hours of resolving these problems- it would have been our government's finest achievement in decades and we would not be discussing this topic right now.
And that's when the Tea Party stepped in. Led by Grover Norquist, they refused to consider ANY tax increases- no matter that the percentage was 20-80. At first their complaint was that the tax increases came first and the spending cuts came later and they didn't trust that formula. But when Obama and the Dems came back with a willingness to move several of the spending cuts forward, the Tea Party Republicans refused to budge- it turned out they wanted NO tax increases or loophole cuts at all- now or in future years. Only spending cuts period, which the Dems would never agree to.
And so the deal fell apart. And that's why we're where we are now. So you guys can blame both sides, and "politicians" all you want. I blame the Tea Party.