LAWMAKERS REACH BUDGET DEAL, BEGIN AIMING FOR OMNIBUS APPROPS BILL

House and Senate appropriators are aiming to complete an omnibus appropriations bill by mid-January after Congressional leaders reached an agreement last night on a budget deal that averts another government shutdown next month. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) unveiled the budget deal yesterday, outlining a plan that would roll back sequester cuts by a total of $63 billion in Fiscal Year 2014 and Fiscal Year 2015. The plan would establish an overall spending level of $1.012 trillion in FY 2014—up from the $967 billion sequester level—and $1.014 trillion for FY 2015. The next step for Congressional leaders is to establish top-line spending amounts for each of the 12 appropriations accounts, which would allow appropriations staffers to go about revising FY 2014 funding levels. Lawmakers will have to work quickly to draft legislation before the Continuing Resolution funding the government expires Jan. 15. “This budget conference agreement will now allow bicameral negotiations on appropriations bills to begin,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said in a statement. “These appropriations bills will provide the discretionary funding needed to keep the government operating—thus avoiding another potential government shutdown and more piecemeal, stopgap spending measures.”