House, Senate release bipartisan agreement on government funding as shutdown deadlines loom

House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement on a government funding topline Sunday, taking a critical step toward avoiding a shutdown later this month. 

The bipartisan deal will see the federal government funded at a maximum level of $1.59 trillion, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a letter to colleagues. It would include $886 billion for defense and $704 billion for nondefense spending, Johnson said.

The $1.59 trillion figure was part of an agreement reached in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) last year. However, that negotiation involved several side deals for more funding that Johnson suggested would not be honored in Sunday's deal.

"As has been widely reported, a list of extra-statutory adjustments was agreed upon by negotiators last summer. The agreement today achieves key modifications to the June framework that will secure more than $16 billion in additional spending cuts to offset the discretionary spending levels," Johnson's letter said.

"As you know, the Senate marked up their appropriations bills $14 billion above the FRA levels and the adjustments. The agreement reached today thus allows for none of that funding, and combined with the additional savings described above, results in an overall $30 billion total reduction from the Senate’s spending plans."

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