Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday announced congressional leaders are close to a two-year deal to lift spending caps and raise the debt ceiling.
They may close the deal today after a later afternoon meeting, he said.
The move would ease the way for both chambers to author spending bills that must pass by a Sept. 30 deadline and would end uncertainty of the looming deadline to lift the nation’s borrowing limit.
McConnell, R-Ky., made the announcement after a preliminary meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other top leaders as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. The group plans to reconvene this afternoon.
“We are anxious to to reach a caps agreement,” McConnell said. “Our hope is to make a deal before the day is over.”
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The accord, McConnell said, would “in all likelihood” include raising the debt ceiling, which must be lifted in the coming weeks in order for the United States to continue to be able to borrow the money needed to run the country.
Lawmakers have been eager to find a bipartisan agreement on lifting spending caps imposed under the 2011 Budget Control Act. This deal would eliminate caps for two years, but the budget caps end in 2021.
Democrats are seeking to lift domestic spending along the same levels as military spending.
McConnell spoke to President Trump last week, according to GOP lawmakers, and told him he is willing to lift domestic spending in order to accommodate the GOP’s desire for more military spending.
Without lifting the caps, Congress would be forced to slash non-mandatory accounts for defense and nondefense spending.
