It's a Deal! Senate Passes Ryan-Murray Budget

The Senate passed the Ryan-Murray budget today in a 64-36 bipartisan vote.   The budget sets top line spending levels for FY2014 and FY2015, allowing House and Senate appropriators to finalize the FY2014 appropriations bills that actually fund the government.

This budget compromise (H. J. Res. 59), crafted by House and Senate Budget Committee chairs Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), sets FY2014 government spending at $1.012 trillion, halfway between what the House wanted and what the Senate wanted.  It also provides $63 billion in sequester relief split evenly between defense and non-defense spending.    Some Republicans opposed the measure because it does not cut spending enough, and some Democrats opposed it because it does not extend unemployment benefits, but in the end, all 53 Senate Democrats, 2 Independents who usually vote with Democrats, and nine Republicans decided that it was better than no agreement and continued gridlock in Washington.

Passage of the budget compromise does not ensure that a government shutdown can be averted when the current FY2014 Continuing Resolution (CR) expires on January 15.  The budget agreement sets limits on how much can be spent, but only appropriations bills actually provide money for departments and agencies to spend.  Still, expectations are high that House and Senate appropriators will indeed be able to reach a bipartisan compromise on the 12 regular appropriations bills by that date.  They likely will be combined into a single package called an Omnibus Appropriations bill for consideration by both chambers.