Congress Passes Budget Agreement, Sets Funding Levels for FYs ’14 & ’15

Last Thursday, the House passed the two-year budget agreement brokered by Senator Murray (D-WA) and Congressman Ryan (R-WI), who chair the Budget Committees in their respective chambers. This bill sets the spending levels for the federal government for fiscal years 2014 and 2015. On Wednesday of this week, the Senate followed suit. The bill now heads to the White House for the President’s signature. Now that the overall spending levels have been set, House and Senate appropriations staff will spend the next few weeks developing proposed spending levels for the various government agencies and programs. The current continuing resolution funds the government through January 15th, so House and Senate leaders will need to work fast to meet the coming deadline.