2 Year Budget Deal Passes in the Senate

Last week, the Senate passed the House Bipartisan Budget Act, a budget deal that increases spending for military and domestic programs for FY20 and FY21, avoiding the looming budget cuts from sequestration, and suspends the debt limit through July 31, 2021. The President has said he will sign the bill into law.

This legislation would increase overall funding for defense programs by approximately 3 percent each year for FY 2020, which begins October 1, 2019, and FY 2021. Non-defense funding would increase by 4 percent over current levels for the upcoming fiscal year. This overall non-defense spending limit is well above FY 2019 levels, but $15 billion less than House Democrats originally proposed. As a result, some of the amounts in the House-passed appropriations bills will likely decrease as the House and Senate begin negotiating over individual accounts.

This budget deal is a much-needed step toward ensuring adequate and on-time funding for FY 2020, but much remains to be done. Even after this legislation becomes law, Congress will have only until the end of September to produce a bipartisan and bicameral agreement on all the FY 2020 appropriations bills that the President will need to sign before the start of the new fiscal year. NTEU will keep you informed as this process continues to move forward.

Members of both the House and Senate will now spend the August recess working and meeting with their constituents in their home districts. They will return to Washington on September 9, 2019