One possibly useful thing to come out of the standoff on closing the government and not raising the debt limit is that both parties seem agreeable to a committee to come up with a long term plan for budgets, which presumably includes spending, taxes, and economic growth. The same committee, I think, is charged with coming up with a budget compromise by December 13. If they don't meet that deadline, they should lock those Senators and Representatives in a conference room until they come up with an annual budget.
Enough innocent citizens suffered during the government shutdown when Congress couldn't or wouldn't do its job. Next time around, it should be the Congresscritters who suffer. If they can't come up with a budget by December 13, locking them in a room with each other is a very appropriate punishment. If they won't start serious negotiation until push comes to shove, they should be pushing and shoving each other.
"Lock them in a room" may have been the reasoning that led to the sequester, but it was implemented wrong. There was pain from not coming up with something better, but the pain hit the country in a variety of places, while sparing the Senators and Representatives themselves. They should be the ones who suffer as much of the pain as possible. (The same applies to the lazy "filibuster" the Senate has now. With the "talking filibuster" at least one Senator was chained to the podium.)
And if they won't just abolish the debt limit, any budget should include raising that limit to whatever results from the spending and taxes they set.