Congressional leaders and President Trump have finished negotiating a $1.3 trillion two-year budget deal. If passed by Congress and signed by the President, the deal would eliminate the spending caps for the final two years of sequestration imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011, suspend the federal debt ceiling until July 31, 2021, and boost federal spending by $320 billion over two years with $77 billion in offsets. The $320 billion increase is rumored to be split roughly evenly between defense programs and non-defense discretionary programs. The deal includes an additional $2.5 billion for the 2020 census, according to a senior Democratic aide, and domestic programs would see about $10 billion more than military programs over two years.
The House adjourns for its August recess on Friday, July 26 and the Senate adjourns on Friday, August 2. Lawmakers are hoping to enact the deal before adjournment and avoid a brinkmanship showdown at the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2019.
