Congress, White House near deal to avert budget crisis
WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders unveiled a tentative deal Monday to head off a looming budget crisis, raising the limit on the national debt and sketching a plan to fund the government for the next two years.
The deal negotiated by the bipartisan congressional leadership and the White House would suspend the debt ceiling until March 2017, moving the next argument over the debt limit past the 2016 elections, said a congressional official who knows the details of the deal but who spoke on condition of anonymity because the terms have not been released publicly.
The agreement would also set a two-year budget plan that would raise the strict government-wide spending limits — $520 billion for defense programs, $493 billion for non-defense — put in place by the 2011 "sequester." The official said it would add $50 billion to those totals in the first year and $30 billion the year after, divided equally between defense and non-defense spending.
In addition, the deal would provide funding to protect senior citizens from a predicted spike in the cost of Medicare premiums next year, the official said, and would make changes to Social Security to achieve $168 billion in long-term savings.
The deal would be the last major achievement for Speaker John Boehner, who is stepping down at the end of the week. He had said when he announced his retirement last month that he hoped to resolve some major outstanding issues before handing the speaker's gavel to his successor, who is expected to be Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Congress faces a Nov. 3 deadline for raising the nation's debt limit; beyond that point, the U.S. government would begin defaulting on debts, the Treasury Department warned. And the current short-term federal spending bill expires Dec. 11, raising the specter of another government shutdown.
House Republicans said Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told them in a closed meeting Monday, "Let's declare success" by passing the deal.
"We've had the outline of the deal offered to us, we're now waiting to get the details," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. "Members are cautiously supportive, but they have a lot of questions."
Rules Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said Boehner and President Obama have been working on a deal for months.
He said the deal will keep Congress on a path "to being careful with how much money we spend" because it offsets increases in spending.
Rep. Mike Simpson. R-Idaho, said he would support it but he wasn't sure if it would pass the House. "I don't know," he kept repeating as he left the meeting.
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., said he wanted to see details, such as dealing with the debt limit.
"I can't vote for something that spends money today and saves it 10 years from now," he said. "They don't really have the deal yet, so it's hard to say," he said.
Some conservatives were more negative. "It's emblematic of five years of failed leadership," Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., told reporters, taking a swipe at Boehner.