Washington: The budget deal between congressional leaders and President Barack Obama, aimed at heading off a government shutdown and debt crisis, faces its first hurdle Tuesday when it goes before restive House Republicans, including rebellious arch-conservatives.
The two-year pact, which would take those volatile fiscal issues off the table until after the 2016 presidential election, would give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies USD 80 billion in relief from budget constraints in exchange for cuts elsewhere in the budget.
Whether the tentative deal reached late Monday succeeds depends in great measure on the reception it gets from Republicans, including conservatives who forced out House Speak John Boehner. Boehner hopes to get the legislation passed before Rep. Paul Ryan's election as his successor, expected Thursday.
Some House Republicans were already grumbling ahead of today's meeting.
"This is again just the umpteenth time that you have this big, huge deal that'll last for two years and we were told nothing about it and in fact even today, were not given the details," said Rep. John Fleming, R-La. "And were probably going to have to vote on it in less than 48 hours." A vote could come as early as Wednesday in the House.
The newly assembled budget plan would restore order to Washington and remove the threat of budget and debt chaos — a premier goal of congressional Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a key architect of the pact.
The White House said Tuesday it was "promising" that Democrats and Republicans came together to reach an agreement that would "break the cycle of short-sighted, crisis-driven decision-making." Capitol Hill Democrats are likely to solidly support the agreement, although it gives greater budget relief to the Pentagon than it does domestic programs.
"We successfully secured equal increases in funding defense and non-defense priorities," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. "We have extended the solvency of Social Security Disability Insurance and protected millions of seniors from a significant increase in their Medicare Part B premiums and deductibles next year. Most importantly, we have affirmed that the full faith and credit of the United States is non-negotiable and inviolable."
The legislation would suspend the current USD 18.1 trillion debt limit through March 2017. The budget portion would increase the current "caps" on total agency spending by USD 50 billion in 2016 and USD 30 billion in 2017, offset by savings elsewhere in the budget. And it would permit about USD 16 billion to be added on top of that in 2016, classified as war funding, with a comparable boost in 2017.
