The White House and congressional leaders reached an agreement Monday on discretionary spending cap increases for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 that includes a two-year suspension the debt ceiling limit, CQ reported.
President Donald Tump announced the deal in a tweet while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also announced their support for the agreement.
“I am pleased to announce that a deal has been struck with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy – on a two-year Budget and Debt Ceiling, with no poison pills….,” Trump wrote.
“This was a real compromise in order to give another big victory to our Great Military and Vets!”
The budget deal, according to Roll Call, would raise discretionary spending limits for FY 2020 and 2021 by $321 billion over mandatory caps that had been established under 2011 deficit reduction legislation.
The negotiations had included talks of a defense topline of $738 billion in fiscal 2020, slightly more than the $733 billion that the Democrat-led House passed in its FY 2020 version of the National Defense Authorization Act, CQ reported Monday. That target would also fall short of the administration’s requested $750 billion defense topline.
The deal, if signed into law, would also increase nondefense spending to $632 billion, a $27 billion increase over FY 2019. The nondefense spending gains represent a Democratic success, though the increases will also have to cover additional Census costs and VA funding, according to a Politico report.
The House is expected to vote on the proposed agreement later this week before the chamber’s lawmakers depart Washington for the August congressional recess.
“The House will now move swiftly to bring the budget caps and debt ceiling agreement legislation to the Floor, so that it can be sent to the President’s desk as soon as possible,” Pelosi and Schumer said in their joint statement.