Budget Deal Reached

Paul Ryan and Patty Murray made the announcement:

The final budget number falls about halfway between the Senate budget level of $1.058 trillion and the House budget level of $967 billion.

The agreement falls far short of the grand budget bargain that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and President Obama once envisioned. But if passed, it will bring a measure of fiscal peace to the capital for the first time since Republicans wrested control of the House in 2010.

At a joint press conference, the two lawmakers described the deal as a common-sense solution that would prevent the government from shutting down over the next two years.

“This agreement makes sure we don’t have a government shutdown scenario in January, it makes sure we don’t have a government shutdown scenario in October,” Ryan said.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.