I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised. I didn't think there was any way an agreement could be reached on the federal budget by the conference committee -- but they cam up with one. The deal restores some of the funding cut by the awful sequester agreement, but not nearly enough to help the economy very much.The House had wanted to set spending for this year at $967 billion, while the Senate wanted it set at $1.058 trillion. The committee split the difference, and set it at $1.012 trillion -- restoring a few billion dollars to the budget over the next two years.
The good news is that there were no new cuts to Social Security or Medicare (although cuts already made to Medicare were extended a couple of years), and there will now not be a government shutdown looming over the budget (since this agreement covers both this year and next year). There was also a tiny bit of new revenue (through higher fees for airlines and for companies that use the federal pension guarantee program).The bad news is that there was no new funding agreed to for extended unemployment benefits (so millions will soon be added to poverty roles as their benefits run out and there are no new jobs for them), there was no debt ceiling deal included (which could mean a shutdown threat over that next summer), veterans got their COLA decreased, and half of the new funding will go to the already bloated military budget.
All things considered, this was not a good deal for the American people. But it was probably the best deal that could be reached, and for that reason, it should be passed by Congress.
Democrats will most likely support the agreement and vote for it, in spite of the fact that most of them don't like it. Whether the agreement can be passed will depend on the House GOP. There are already right-wingers whining about the agreement, and it is entirely possible that more House Democrats will vote for the agreement than House Republicans (even though the GOP leadership is trying to drum up support for it).
The country and the economy needed a better agreement -- one that would spur the economy, tax the rich and corporations a bit more, and create new jobs. But as long as the Republicans control the House, that is not going to happen. We need to take care of that in November 2014.
(The caricatures of the House and Senate committee chairs, Patty Murray and Paul Ryan, are by DonkeyHotey.)
