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Republican and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill have reached an agreement on the level of federal spending for 2024, in a breakthrough that moves Congress closer to avoiding a costly government shutdown.
The news was jointly announced by Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, and Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House, on Sunday. The framework agreement comes with less than two weeks to go until a government funding deadline.
In a joint statement with Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, Schumer said the agreement “clears the way for Congress to act over the next few weeks in order to maintain important funding priorities for the American people and avoid a government shutdown”.
In a letter to Republican colleagues on Sunday afternoon, Johnson said Republicans had “secured hard-fought concessions,” and even though the levels of spending from the 2023 fiscal year would be unchanged, there would be an additional $10bn in cuts to the Internal Revenue Service.
US President Joe Biden welcomed the news, saying in a statement that the funding framework “moves us one step closer to preventing a needless government shutdown and protecting important national priorities”.