An emerging budget deal between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill would get rid of sequester savings and increase federal spending by about $33 billion, according to a new report.
Republican Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and Democrat Washington State Sen. Patty Murray, the respective leaders of the House and Senate budget committees, have been working to hammer out a budget plan for the next two years.
Under this new proposal under consideration, discretionary spending levels would increase from $967 billion to $1 trillion.
Here’s how Politico describes the working plan:
The emerging plan also would attempt to find a middle ground between overall federal spending levels sought by Ryan and Murray in their respective budget plans. Under one proposal still under consideration, overall discretionary spending levels would be set in the $1 trillion range for 2014, sources say. That’s an uptick from the $967 billion spending level under the Budget Control Act but lower than the $1.058 trillion level initially sought by Senate Democrats.
If the two sides agree to that approach, the increase in spending would be split about evenly between defense and nondefense spending, sources said. Roughly $80 billion of the sequester cuts would instead be shifted to other programs in the federal budget, but overall deficit reduction would remain unchanged.
Politico also reported that “new revenue through fee increases — not tax hikes — is likely.”
The Budget Control Act of 2011 created the automatic spending cuts across the government – known as sequestration – mandating a discretionary budget in fiscal year 2013 of $986 billion. Under law, the discretionary budget down is supposed to go down to $967 billion for fiscal year 2014.
The outlet also reported that House Speaker John Boehner might offer a bill next week funding the government at $967 billion if Ryan and Murray don’t reach a deal.