Yet a major and destabilizing confrontation over public finance now seems unavoidable, particularly following House Speaker John Boehner’s surprise announcement that he will resign his position and his seat in Congress at the end of October. To see why, one need look no further than the House Ways and Means Committee, whose current chairman, Paul Ryan, is a leader of the hardline Republican insurgents who had scorned Boehner for being too willing to compromise with President Barack Obama and House Democrats.