House GOP Leaders Reach 2-Year Budget Deal

Boehner's last deal will make it a lot easier for Ryan
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 27, 2015 4:34 AM CDT
Updated Oct 27, 2015 6:03 AM CDT
House GOP Leaders Reach 2-Year Budget Deal
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, left, and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., laugh together as they walk from a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on Monday.   (Carolyn Kaster)

House GOP leaders struck a budget deal made with the White House just before midnight Monday aimed at averting a government shutdown and forestalling a debt crisis. Speaker John Boehner is making one final appeal to restive Republicans: Pass the hard-won agreement with President Obama before Rep. Paul Ryan assumes the speaker's job later this week. He encountered immediate resistance, however, when he laid out the plan Monday night. His plan is for members to vote on the deal Wednesday. The deal, which was weeks in the making, ups government spending by $80 billion over two years and increases the debt ceiling until March 2017, reports the Washington Post.

The budget pact, in concert with a must-pass increase in the federal borrowing limit, would solve the thorniest issues awaiting Ryan, who's set to be elected speaker on Thursday. The deal would also take budget showdowns and government shutdown fights off the table until after the 2016 presidential election, a potential boon to Republican candidates who might otherwise face uncomfortable questions about messes in the GOP-led Congress. Congress must raise the federal borrowing limit by Nov. 3 or risk a first-ever default, while money to pay for government operations runs out Dec. 11 unless Congress acts. (More John Boehner stories.)

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