Will Beatrez `15

On Wednesday, December 18th, the Senate passed a bill to fund the government for the next two years (through 2015), which takes us past the midterm elections. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.). For the past three years, Congress has faced crisis after crisis dealing with budgets and risking shutting down the government, which actually did happen last October.

The overall spending budget was the split right down the middle between the proposal made by the Republicans and the one made by the Democrats, and set at $1.012 trillion.

Although many senators are optimistic about this compromise as a positive step forward, the deal does not address some of the more important budgeting issues, namely the debt limit. The suspension of the enforcement of the debt limit ends February 7th, and White House press secretary Jay Carney has said that President Obama will not negotiate over it.

The budget addresses the smaller issues, and has appeased both sides thus far. Many Republicans are relieved, especially with the upcoming midterm elections. GOP popularity among voters has declined with the recent financial crises, and Republican leaders do not want to take any more chances with risky budget demands. Republicans see this election as the best opportunity they’ve had at taking control of the Senate.
Credit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-poised-to-pass-bipartisan-budget-agreement/2013/12/18/54fd3a1a-6807-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics