Against All Odds, Congress Might Actually Come To A Deal That Would Prevent Another Government Shutdown
AP
Not many people thought the conference would lead to anything. But the two leaders on the 29-member bipartisan budget panel - Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) are closing in on a small deal that could quiet down talks of another shutdown in January.
The deal is far from the elusive "grand bargain." According to congressional aides, here are some of the parameters of the ongoing negotiations:
- Discretionary spending (which includes most spending aside from interest and entitlement programs) in the budget accord will likely be capped somewhere between $990 billion and $1 trillion - higher than the $967 billion level that many Republicans currently support, but lower than the $1.058 trillion in the Democratic budget plan.
- The higher spending levels - from a slight rollback of the cuts in sequestration - would be offset by other spending cuts and non-tax revenue increases, which include a number of different possibilities. Some of those include airline passenger fees and changes to the federal retirement program.
- Aides said that the deal does not include an extension of long-term unemployment benefits, the expiration of which threatens to affect 1.3 million people at the end of the year.
- It also does not include any extension of the debt ceiling, the suspension of which ends on Feb. 7. The Treasury can use so-called "extraordinary measures" to extend the "drop-dead" date to March or April.
Both sides caution that the deal could still run into snags. Many Republicans think that the sequester cuts shouldn't be rolled back at all. Some Democrats are already pushing back at the talk of changes to the federal employee retirement program and the lack of an extension of unemployment benefits.
If a budget deal is not reached in the next few days, House Speaker John Boehner prefers, according to CNN, to move before Christmas recess a continuing resolution to keep the government funded at a $967 billion level, which keeps the sequestration cuts. Government funding expires on Jan. 15, the deadline that could trigger another shutdown.
- I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
- Saudi Arabia wants China to help fund its struggling $500 billion Neom megaproject. Investors may not be too excited.
- Colon cancer rates are rising in young people. If you have two symptoms you should get a colonoscopy, a GI oncologist says.
- 2024 LS polls pegged as costliest ever, expenditure may touch ₹1.35 lakh crore: Expert
- 10 Best things to do in India for tourists
- 19,000 school job losers likely to be eligible recruits: Bengal SSC
- Groww receives SEBI approval to launch Nifty non-cyclical consumer index fund
- Retired director of MNC loses ₹25 crore to cyber fraudsters who posed as cops, CBI officers