Congressional deal on spending cap eases risk of shutdown

investmentnews.com:

U.S. congressional leaders announced a deal on a top-line spending level for the current fiscal year, lessening the chances of a partial government shutdown on Jan. 20.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, negotiated the deal, clearing the way for the appropriations committees in both chambers to negotiate detailed spending bills now that they have an overall limit for the amount those bills can spend.

The deal sets the cap for the 12 annual spending bills at $1.59 trillion and Republicans have agreed a set of budget moves that Democrats demanded to spare immediate cuts to domestic agency budgets. These moves, which conservatives have decried as “gimmicks,” could lead some Republicans to refuse support.

Yet the deal lacks an agreement to block all conservative policy riders, so the chance of a fight over demands such as defunding investigations into former President Donald Trump could still cause an impasse later.

Johnson presented the deal to his colleagues in a letter Sunday.

“After many weeks of dialogue and debate, we have secured hard-fought concessions to unlock the FY 24 topline numbers and allow the Appropriations Committee to finally begin negotiating and completing the twelve annual appropriations bills,” the letter says.

The U.S. is facing two government shutdown deadlines, after Jan. 19 and Feb 2. Without fresh appropriations, the departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Energy and Veterans Affairs would shut down on Jan. 20. Republicans and Democrats have been at odds over the spending level, stalling all of the 12 appropriations bills.

President Joe Biden welcomed the agreement and called on Republicans to “fulfill