1/8/24 - Lawmakers Reach A Bipartisan Deal

Lawmakers continue to work on a deal to prevent a partial government shutdown.

(WASHINGTON) -  Top lawmakers in the House and Senate announced Sunday, that significant steps have been taken toward coming to an agreement on the budget and prevent a partial government shutdown later this month. 

The agreement focuses on "topline" spending and involve roughly $1.6 Trillion dollars in federal spending.

The House and Senate still have less than two weeks to work on other underlying bills funding the government.

The agreement is separate from the negotiations for additional funding for Israel, Ukraine, and border security. 

The deal would establish an overall spending level of $1.59 trillion in fiscal year 2024.  The breakdown is $886 billion for the military and $704 billion for nondefense spending.  There will still be “key modifications” to the agreement in order to reduce nonmilitary spending with a $16 billion “offset That includes $6.1 billion in unused Covid funds and $10 billion in IRS money under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Leaders of the House and Senate say that the final spending levels will not satisfy everyone, and they do not cut as much spending as many would like, but this deal does provide us a path to: 1) move the process forward; 2) reprioritize funding within the topline towards conservative objectives, instead of last year’s Schumer-Pelosi omnibus; and 3) fight for the important policy riders included in our House FY24 bills.