Senate Poised to Move Forward With Budget Deal
The Senate appears poised to clear a key procedural hurdle Tuesday that will pave the way for passage of a budget deal brokered by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and send the legislation to the president’s desk.
The House passed the agreement last week, which sets spending levels for the next two years and replaces $63 billion in cuts mandated by the sequester with other spending cuts. It will avert the threat of a government shutdown in mid-January, when the temporary spending bill passed by Congress in October runs out.
Though a substantial bipartisan majority supported the deal in the House, tensions have run high in the Senate in the wake of a rules change approved by Democrats that makes it easier for the majority party to confirm the president’s nominees. Combined with political pressure from outside conservative groups not to back the deal, its fate seemed uncertain even in the Democrat-controlled Senate, where 60 votes will be needed to overcome the possibility of a filibuster.
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UPDATE: the bill gained cloture, which pretty much ensures passage.