Not all Congressional work is hearings, fundraisers, cocktail parties. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced today that the Senate was on track to pass the budget deal. If there were no procedural issues, the vote is expected to occur at 1am Friday morning.
Category: Budget
House Approves Budget Deal
The House on Wednesday passed a two-year budget package that includes a suspension of the debt ceiling by a vote of 266-167. As has become custom, the measure passed with minimal Republican support: 187 Democrats voted for the measure but only 79 Republicans did. The measure now moves to the Senate, which could take it up as early as tomorrow. The budget measure (HR 1314) would raise discretionary spending caps by $80 billion for defense and domestic spending in both 2016 and 2017, splitting the amount evenly between the two categories.
The Senate is expected to take up the bill quickly, even though GOP presidential candidate and US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) vowed to filibuster the legislation. Because the underlying legislation that’s being used as a vehicle for the deal has already passed the Senate, the measure could see a vote to cut off debate in the chamber tomorrow. Action could occur over the weekend, though votes might get pushed to Monday, just one day before Treasury Secretary Lew’s November 3rd debt ceiling deadline.
White House Issues SAP in Support of Budget Deal
Today, the White House has issued a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) in support of the budget deal that will soon pass the House. In it’s support of the passage of HR 1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, the Administration’s specifically cited its support of the inclusion of funds for education, job training and research.
House Goes First on Budget Deal
At midnight last night, the Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015 was introduced in the House, and the House Rules Committee is expected to consider the measure tomorrow paving the way for the full House to consider the legislation Wednesday. Passage is expected Wednesday and the measure will move to the Senate Wednesday night. The Senate is expected to consider and pass the measure by the end of the week.
The timing will give Boeher plenty of time to pass something before he retires and the elections for Paul Ryan as Speaker are held Thursday as well as before the national debt limit expires on November 3rd.
After the measure passes, the House and Senate Appropriations committees will begin working with the new top line budget amounts, known as 302(b)s, and those committees will begin on crafting new FY16 appropriations bills to pass before the December 11th Continuing Resolution expires.
Congress and White House Agree on Budget Deal
Late yesterday, a potential budget agreement between the White House and Congress was released. It would boost both defense and domestic spending over the budget caps for the next two years, and lift the nation’s debt limit through March 2017. If the deal holds, it would eliminate the dual threats of a government shutdown and a debt default until after the November 2016 elections.
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which has not yet been finalized, would boost defense and domestic spending above sequestration levels by $50 billion in the first year and $30 billion in the second year. In each year, there would be an additional $16 billion spent using the Overseas Contingency Operations fund. It would also curtail a huge increase in Medicare premiums due to go into effect in January for some beneficiaries.
Specifically, the deal would:
- Increase discretionary spending by $80 billion above sequester-level spending caps (PL 112-25), with the increase split evenly between defense and nondefense programs. Sequester relief of $50 billion would be applied to FY 2016 and $30 billion for FY 2017.
- Include an additional $32 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations war account funding, split evenly between FY 2016 and FY 2017. That means spending would rise by $66 billion above the caps for FY 2016 and $46 billion above the caps for FY 2017.
- Draw offsets from other legislation, such as the House-passed 21st Century Cures medical research initiative (HR 6).
- Raise the debt limit, giving Republicans the opportunity to sell the package as raising the debt limit in exchange for constraints on spending. Democrats will insist that it is a so-called clean debt limit increase that is attached to other legislation. Two aides said the government’s borrowing authority increase would likely last through March 2017.
While it is no grand bargain like the Murray-Ryan Budget Deal from 2013, it will eliminate the risk of sequester cuts and provide some certainty in federal budget and appropriations for research universities.