US Senate arrives at two-year budget deal to avert govt shutdown
8 Feb 2018 2:58 PM GMT
Washington: The US Senate on Thursday reached a rare bipartisan compromise to avert another crippling government shutdown by reaching a two-year budget deal to raise spending on military and domestic programmes by almost USD 300 billion.
The deal, agreed upon by both the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate, was immediately welcomed by the White House.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer announced the budget deal in the House of Representatives.
"I am very pleased to announce that we have reached a two-year budget deal to lift the spending caps for defence and urgent domestic priorities far above current spending levels," Schumer said.
He added that there were still a few final details to work out but all the principles of the agreement were in place.
"The budget deal does not have everything Democrats want, it does not have everything the Republicans want, but it has a great deal of what the American people want," Schumer said in his speech on the House Floor.
He said the budget deal was a "genuine breakthrough" after months of legislative logjams.
"After months of fiscal brinkmanship, this budget deal is the first real sprout of bipartisanship. And it should break the long cycle of spending crises that have snarled this Congress and hampered our middle class," Schumer said.
The US government officially shutdown on January 20 for the first time in five years after the Senate rejected a short-term spending bill to keep the federal government running.
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