Commentary: The White House and congressional lawmakers unveiled a budget deal late last night, a plan that would relieve harsh spending caps for discretionary spending under the Budget Control Act of 2011 and avert economic disaster by suspending the debt ceiling.
The deal would raise spending caps by $80 billion over two years, split evenly among domestic and Pentagon spending programs. It would also provide an additional $59 billion for a Pentagon slush fund over and above the legislated caps – a gimmick that has padded Pentagon spending and rendered budget caps moot in recent years. It would also suspend the debt limit until March 2017 and make changes to Social Security and Medicare. The measure still must pass Congress by November 3, when the government reaches the debt ceiling would no longer be able to pay its bills.
"Sequestration is a terrible way to budget as it makes cuts without reference to Americans' priorities. Raising the budget caps for domestic discretionary spending is a win for most Americans who say they want more domestic investment in areas such as job training, the economy and our safety net," said Jasmine Tucker, Senior Research Analyst at the National Priorities Project.
"However, we are distressed that the deal includes more padding for the Pentagon's slush fund, a tactic that exempts the Pentagon from budget caps while domestic programs continue to struggle."
National Priorities Project (NPP) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization founded in 1983 that makes our complex federal budget transparent and accessible so people can exercise their right and responsibility to shape our nation's budget. In 2014, NPP was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of our pioneering work to track federal spending on the military and promote a U.S. federal budget that represents Americans' priorities. Learn more at nationalpriorities.org.