New budget deal might include few or no cuts

WASHINGTON» White House and congressional negotiators rushing to hammer out the final details of a sweeping budget and debt deal are unlikely to include many — if any — actual spending cuts, even as the debt limit is lifted for two years, people familiar with the talks said.

The agreement appeared likely to mark a retreat for White House officials who had demanded major spending cuts in exchange for a new budget deal. But the process remained in limbo while negotiators awaited final approval late Sunday from President Donald Trump.

The pending deal would seek to extend the debt ceiling and set new spending levels for two years, ratcheting back the budget brinkmanship that led to a record-long government shutdown earlier this year.

But instead of the $150 billion in new spending cuts recently demanded by White House acting budget director Russell Vought, the agreement would include a significantly lower amount of reductions. And those reductions aren’t expected to represent actual spending cuts, in part because most would take place in future years and likely be reversed by Congress at a later date. A precise figure wasn’t available.

Details remained fluid and subject to change, according to the people describing the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal details.

In practical terms, the budget agreement would increase spending by tens of billions of dollars in the next two years — a stark reversal from the White House’s budget request several months ago that sought to slash spending at many agencies starting in October.

As part of the deal to raise military and spending levels for two years, White House officials were attempting to convince House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to back off on certain policies Democrats hoped to include in future spending bills. One point of contention involved the administration’s authority to transfer money between budget accounts to finance construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Democrats have fought to limit or eliminate the White House’s ability to transfer money in this way, but White House officials have pushed hard to retain the flexibility to do so. The exact resolution was uncertain.

A central focus of the budget agreement would be the suspension of the debt ceiling for two years, forestalling what many budget experts believe would be a catastrophic default. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has warned that his agency could run out of money by early September if the debt ceiling isn’t raised by then. Because talks remained fluid, it’s possible negotiators could seek to change the debt limit timeline based on input from Trump.