Congressional leaders announce an agreement on spending levels, a key step to averting shutdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on overall spending levels for the current fiscal year that could help avoid a partial government shutdown later this month.
The agreement largely hews to spending caps for defense and domestic programs that Congress set as part of a bill to suspend the debt limit until 2025. But it does provide some concessions to House Republicans who viewed the spending restrictions in that agreement as insufficient.
In a letter to colleagues, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday the agreement would secure $16 billion in additional spending cuts from the previous agreement brokered by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden and is about $30 billion less than what the Senate was considering.
“This represents the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade,” Johnson writes.
<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«Other news» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Other news </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Tempers flare and bills languish as Speaker Johnson confronts the same problems that vexed McCarthy<use xlink:href="#play-icon" xmlns:xlink=«http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink»> </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Biden signs bill averting government shutdown for now, with Israel and Ukraine aid still stalled </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Mayorkas warns of dangers to the US if it loses tools to block terrorists from using drones and WMD </bsp-custom-headline> </bsp-list-loadmore>Biden said the agreement