Obama agreed to $2.1 trillion in spending cuts to end 2011 debt ceiling crisis. Here’s what happened next.

The nation is days away from defaulting on its obligations. The Republican House speaker, pushed by conservatives in his party, demands deep spending cuts. The president, a Democrat, works on negotiating a package to avert a fiscal calamity.

No, it’s not 2023.

It’s 2011, when then-President Barack Obama agreed to a debt ceiling deal with then-House Speaker John Boehner that called for more than $900 billion in upfront spending cuts and deficit reduction, as well as the creation of a joint congressional committee that would find at least $1.2 trillion in additional...