House Republicans Support New Budget Deal
House Republicans are supporting a budget deal that will ease automatic budget cuts that would otherwise hit the Pentagon and other domestic agencies for a second year in a row. The deal will also put a moratorium on acrimonious budget battles in Congress.
President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are also lauding the measure that was negotiated with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-WI, who put aside partisanship to broker a successful budget deal.
The deal, which was negotiated by Ryan and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-WA, would preserve most of the agency spending cuts the GOP won in 2011, but would reduce the chances of having another partial government shutdown, The Associated Press reports.
The Ryan-Murray pact will come to a vote on Thursday and is likely to pass, despite some qualms by House Democrats. House Democrats are not happy about being cut out of the talks, and are also upset that the law doesn't contain a provision to renew jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.
The deal will ease $63 billion in scheduled spending cuts over the next two years and replace them with longer-term savings over 10 years, with many not accumulating until 2022-23. Deficits would increase by $23.2 billion in 2014 and $18.2 billion in 2015.
Yet, the deal will prevent unwanted cuts to military readiness and weapons, as well as to programs supported by both Democrats and Republicans, such as health research, school aid, border security and FBI salaries.
The cuts will be replaced with money from higher airline security fees, curbs on pension benefits for new federal works and working-age military retirees, and premium increases on companies whose pension plans are insured by the federal government.
Ryan said on Thursday that the measure moves the divided government "in the right direction."
Ryan called it a move toward fiscal responsibility at a time when the Federal Reserve Board is set to wind down its bond-buying stimulus program. However, he said, "I don't see any difference in the likelihood of a grand bargain" on taxes and spending.
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said "much of the spending increase in this deal has been justified by increased fees and new revenue. In other words, it's a fee increase to fuel a spending increase, rather than reducing deficits."
The pact uses a combination of low-profile cuts and new fee revenues, most of which won't take effect until the next decade.
According to The Washington Post, Ryan said that $63 billion in "sequester relief" is offset with $85 billion in savings, which results in a major deficit reduction.
"We understand that in this divided government, we're not going to get everything we want," Ryan said. The deal is a "step" toward GOP goals, and "we feel very good about where we are with our members," he said. "If we can get a step in the right direction, we're going to take that step, and that's why we're doing this."