Federal Budget Deal Reached
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 has emerged from negotiations on Capitol Hill. The agreement provides two years (FY 2018 and 2019) of relief from sequestration with nearly $300 billion in funding above established spending caps. The bill also establishes a select congressional committee to develop legislation to reform the budget process, which has proven to be dysfunctional through a series of stopgap spending measures and government shutdowns over the last few years. The agreement locks in a $2 billion FY 2018 increase for the National Institutes of Health. The additional budget cap space should also allow for more favorable allocations for research agencies than seen earlier this year in the President's Budget Request and House Appropriations Committee-approved spending bills.
The legislation advanced on the Hill today provides only a framework for the FY 2018 budget and an additional time period (through March 23) for Congress to finalize appropriations for specific agency and program line-items. Packaged with the overarching budget provisions in the bill is emergency supplemental funding for disaster relief, suspension of the debt ceiling through March 2019, and health care items such as 10-year funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Senate Appropriations Committee Statement