House, Senate Negotiators Set to Announce Budget Deal *Rep. Ryan Says He and Sen. Murray Have "Reached an Agreement" on Federal Budget
*Ryan: Deal Will Avoid Government Shutdown In 2014
*Ryan: Deal Reduces Deficit, Does Not Raise Taxes
*Ryan and Murray Are Budget Chairs in the U.S. House and Senate
*Sen. Murray: Deal Rolls Back Some Sequester Cuts to Military and Other Programs in 2014, 2015
*Sen. Murray: House to Vote on Budget Deal First, Followed by Senate
(UPDATE TO COME)
House and Senate negotiators are on the verge of announcing a budget agreement that would avert a government shutdown and bring a rare dose of stability to Congress's fiscal policy-making over the next two years, according to lawmakers briefed on the negotiations.
Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) worked through the day Tuesday to put the finishing touches on a two-year budget agreement and briefed colleagues on the broad outlines of the emerging deal.
Senate Democrats who met midday with Ms. Murray said the deal's announcement was imminent. Negotiators aim to bring the bill to the House for a vote before week's end, when the House is scheduled to adjourn for the year. A Senate vote likely would follow next week.
The goal of the Murray-Ryan talks has been to find a way to ease the next round of across-the-board spending cuts, which are slated to reduce the budget for most domestic and defense programs to $967 billion in 2014, down from $986 billion in 2013.
The deal is expected to raise that budget target to about $1 trillion in 2014 and 2015. But to keep that from increasing the deficit over the long term, the deal calls for offsetting the increased spending by raising government fees and cutting spending in other parts of the budget, such as on federal employee pensions.
The agreement is expected to include an increase in fees charged to airline passengers, higher premiums that employers pay to guarantee pensions through the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, as well as a requirement that federal employees pay larger contributions to their pension plans.