congressional leaders may be stepping back from the brink of a government shutdown this month. a short time ago they announced an agreement on overall spending levels for this fiscal year. it s an important first step in averting a shutdown. we aren t out of the woods yet. cnn s arlett saenz is with us. what are you hearing from the white house? does it look like perhaps they re on their way to a deal? reporter: well, jim, president biden signed off of this law saying in a statement he believes it moves the country one step closer to a government shutdown. big questions still remain about whether they can actually get this funding bill written by that next deadline on january 19th. now house speaker mike johnson and senate majority leader chuck schumer negotiated this agreement landing on a $1.59 trillion spending level for fiscal year 2024. the breakdown comes to about $806 billion for defense spending and $704 billion for