The Budget Conference Committee is quickly approaching its December 13th deadline for coming to an agreement on an overall budget framework that will shape the remainder of FY2014, and possibly FY2015, as well as provide some sequester relief. There are rumors swirling that the two lead negotiators – House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) – may be close to producing a compromise that could set top-line spending levels for FY2014-2015.
House GOP leaders have already set aside time to move a budget conference deal this week in the event the budget negotiators do produce a compromise. The emerging framework would increase spending a modest amount over the rest of this fiscal year in exchange for an array of deficit reduction steps in other areas. One possible scenario would involve rewriting part of the Budget Control Act enacting the sequester cuts and raising the $967 billion overall discretionary spending level by $34 billion to $1.001 trillion in the fiscal year that began October 1st.