Lead Congressional appropriators announced Wednesday they have reached a deal on a bipartisan spending framework that sets a path for completing fiscal year 2022 spending bills.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the respective chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, said negotiations on final spending figures and eventual omnibus legislation will continue through the new March 11 government funding deadline.
“In any successful negotiation, both sides have to compromise, and this agreement is no different. But I believe we reached a strong, bipartisan agreement that will allow us to make significant investments in the American people and our communities. I look forward to crafting a bill that will receive strong support in both chambers in the coming weeks,” Leahy said in a statement.
No specifics have been detailed on potential topline figures agreed to in the framework, which follows calls by the GOP for prioritizing parity between defense and nondefense spending increases in any final budget deal.
The House on Tuesday evening voted 272 to 162 to pass a new continuing resolution to keep the government open through March 11, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) saying he intends for the upper chamber to take up the stopgap funding measure “quickly.”
The latest CR, which arrives before the current Feb. 18 deadline, also includes a $1.6 billion anomaly to prevent delays to the Columbia-class submarine program (Defense Daily, Feb. 7).
Senior Pentagon officials told the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee last month that the potential impact of having to operate under a year-long CR would lead to tens of billions of dollars in lost purchasing power and delays to hundreds of programs (Defense Daily, Jan. 12).