Published December 10, 2013 FoxNews.com
Oct. 17, 2013: House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, left, R-Wis., accompanied by Senate Budget Committee Chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., speaks on Capitol Hill.AP
Congressional negotiators on Tuesday announced a tentative budget deal that would avoid a partial government shutdown, but also begin to unravel hard-fought spending cuts.
The lead negotiators -- Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. -- detailed the specifics of the proposal at an evening press conference.
The proposal would restore about $63 billion in funding that had been cut by the so-called sequester. Though it would also include roughly $23 billion in net deficit reduction over a decade, fiscal conservatives were on high alert that the proposal was raising spending levels too high.
Sources told Fox News the deal sets a “topline” spending threshold for the next two fiscal cycles, with the goal of stopping Congress from teetering from crisis to crisis trying to avoid partial government shutdowns.
But the deal is still likely to raise complaints from fiscal conservatives. One senior House Republican source predicted to Fox News that the party would have the votes to pass the deal, though they speculated the GOP may lose a “healthy chunk” on their side.
On the other side of the aisle, a senior House Democratic source told Fox News before the proposal was announced that "the deal still isn't sitting well with House Democrats."
The hesitation, and opposition, on both sides indicates that congressional leaders still have a lot of convincing to do.
House Speaker John Boehner claimed Tuesday he was "optimistic" about the chances a deal would be passed, but the speaker likely would be reluctant to once again try to pass a bill that a majority of Republican members do not support. He resorted to passing a budget bill with a majority of Democrats in October, in order to end the partial shutdown.
The automatic cuts are the consequence of Washington's failure to follow up a 2011 budget pact with further deficit cuts. They would carve $91 billion from the day-to-day budgets of the Pentagon and domestic agencies when compared with sending limits set by the hard-fought 2011 budget agreement.
Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report
Oct. 17, 2013: House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, left, R-Wis., accompanied by Senate Budget Committee Chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., speaks on Capitol Hill.APCongressional negotiators on Tuesday announced a tentative budget deal that would avoid a partial government shutdown, but also begin to unravel hard-fought spending cuts.
The lead negotiators -- Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. -- detailed the specifics of the proposal at an evening press conference.
The proposal would restore about $63 billion in funding that had been cut by the so-called sequester. Though it would also include roughly $23 billion in net deficit reduction over a decade, fiscal conservatives were on high alert that the proposal was raising spending levels too high.
Sources told Fox News the deal sets a “topline” spending threshold for the next two fiscal cycles, with the goal of stopping Congress from teetering from crisis to crisis trying to avoid partial government shutdowns.
But the deal is still likely to raise complaints from fiscal conservatives. One senior House Republican source predicted to Fox News that the party would have the votes to pass the deal, though they speculated the GOP may lose a “healthy chunk” on their side.
On the other side of the aisle, a senior House Democratic source told Fox News before the proposal was announced that "the deal still isn't sitting well with House Democrats."
The hesitation, and opposition, on both sides indicates that congressional leaders still have a lot of convincing to do.
House Speaker John Boehner claimed Tuesday he was "optimistic" about the chances a deal would be passed, but the speaker likely would be reluctant to once again try to pass a bill that a majority of Republican members do not support. He resorted to passing a budget bill with a majority of Democrats in October, in order to end the partial shutdown.
The automatic cuts are the consequence of Washington's failure to follow up a 2011 budget pact with further deficit cuts. They would carve $91 billion from the day-to-day budgets of the Pentagon and domestic agencies when compared with sending limits set by the hard-fought 2011 budget agreement.
Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report