VIENNA, Va. (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that she believes a top-line federal spending deal reached by congressional leaders over the weekend is consistent with last June's debt ceiling agreement and will not harm the Internal Revenue Service's modernization drive in the near term. Yellen, speaking to reporters at an event at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) suburban Washington headquarters, said she was encouraged by the deal announced on Sunday by House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, but could not say whether a federal government shutdown could be avoided as current funding lapses.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Top U.S. congressional leaders on Sunday agreed on $1.6 trillion in top-line federal spending for fiscal year 2024 in a deal aimed at averting a partial government shutdown later this month, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said. The top-line figure includes $886 billion for defense and $704 billion for non-defense spending, Johnson, a Republican, said in a letter to lawmakers on Sunday. The defense portion had already been signed into law by President Joe Biden last month through the defense spending bill.
With lawmakers still negotiating spending levels for the 2024 fiscal year, the government is operating under a continuing resolution that maintains the federal budget at 2023 levels until January 19 for some agencies and February 2 for the rest. The unusual structure of the continuing resolution as chosen by House Speaker Mike Johnson means that Congress faces two fiscal cliffs in rapid succession, each of which could produce a partial government shutdown. That’s not the only unusual dynamic in
The U.S. national debt surpassed $34 trillion this week, marking a grim milestone as federal debt continues to rise at a record pace under persistent annual deficits, according to the Treasury Department.