Budget Conference Update

With no public meeting of the House and Senate budget conference this week, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) continue to meet behind the scenes to craft a limited budget agreement they can unveil by early next week and have Congress pass before their Dec. 13 deadline. Details of the limited deal have been reported to include an agreement on top-line discretionary spending for fiscal years 2014 (approximately $1 trillion) and 2015 (slightly above $1 trillion) and addressing the sequestration cuts in 2014 and 2015.  In order to achieve a limited deal, Ryan and Murray are going to have to find offsets without tax increases or cuts to entitlement spending.   Even if agreement can be reached on the offsets, Chairman Ryan will have a challenge in selling the deal to conservatives who are concerned that it will increase spending over the current $967.5 billion level and does nothing to address entitlement spending. AGC is encouraged by the possibility of a two-year budget deal that would allow for a return to regular order for an appropriations process that has completely broken down over the past three years.   AGC continues to meet with members of the conference committee to encourage that any final budget deal acknowledges the need to provide additional revenue in the Highway Trust Fund. For more information, please contact Sean O’Neill at (202) 547-8892 or oneills@agc.org.