Congressional leadership announced a tentative deal today to fund the federal government through March of next year at levels previously agreed to in the Budget Control Act (the debt ceiling deal).
(Reuters) - Democrats and Republicans in Congress have reached a deal to fund federal government activities through next March and eliminate any threat of agency shut downs that could upset voters ahead of the November 6 presidential and congressional elections, legislative aides said on Tuesday.
The deal, which policymakers were expected to announce later on Tuesday, would fund discretionary federal programs - from defense and foreign aid to education, transportation and medical research - at levels specified in last year's debt limit deal, or about at an annual rate of $1.047 trillion.
What this really means is it's now all but guaranteed the Bush Tax Cuts will expire at the end of this year.
The Republicans are signing away the only leverage they could have used to force the issue, and if congress simply does nothing they will expire.
I won't say it's impossible they could be extended, but unless you can envision a scenario wherein the House Republicans agree to extend tax cuts for only the first $250,000 of income, it isn't happening.
This deal, announced today by John Boehner and Harry Reid, also means sequestration will continue as planned.