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House and Senate expected to vote on bipartisan budget deal today

However, trouble brewed for the deal on both sides of the aisle on Wednesday. Republicans have been demanding more money for the military, and the legislation would help them meet those goals.

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House Speaker Paul Ryan appeared to shrug off concerns that several Republicans might oppose the deal.

The Senate deal, if approved, would allow for $165 billion in extra defense spending and $131 billion more for non-military programs, including health, infrastructure, disaster relief and efforts to tackle an opioid crisis in the country.

If that fails, the US government would suffer its second shutdown this year, after a partisan standoff over USA immigration policy led to a three-day partial shutdown last month.

“While I obviously cannot guarantee any outcomes, let alone supermajority support, I can ensure the process is fair to all sides”, he said on the Senate floor.

Meadows says the senate budget deal is a Senator Schumer deal and “it’s time Mitch McConnell goes to 51 votes in the Senate” and “the heck with allowing Chuck Schumer and a few of his colleagues to set the agenda”.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer announced the budget deal in the House of Representatives.

But Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said she would not support the budget without guarantees from Republicans to protect those previously shielded from deportation by DACA.

Sen. Rand Paul, a conservative Kentucky Republican and one-time presidential contender, temporarily blocked a Senate vote on a sweeping bipartisan budget deal on Thursday – a move that could force Congress to miss a midnight funding deadline and trigger a partial government shutdown.

“The Budget Agreement today is so important for our great Military”.

But the plan faced criticism from deficit hawks in his own party.

Hours before federal funding expires, the Senate is expected to pass the two-year budget deal, but it faces a tougher test in the lower chamber.

The deal also provides nearly $90bn for disaster relief efforts in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, which have been hard-hit by hurricanes in the previous year.

He said the budget deal was a “genuine breakthrough” after months of legislative logjams.

There’s also US$6 billion to combat opioid abuse and improving mental health, and US$2 billion for research at the National Institutes of Health.

The core of the agreement would shatter tight “caps” on defence and domestic programmes funded by Congress each year. “This budget agreement will give our men and women in uniform the resources they need”. The agreement includes another $160 billion in unlimited spending on overseas Pentagon and State Department operations. Nondefense programs would receive about $60 billion over current levels. Those figures would be slightly increased for the 2019 budget year beginning October 1.

The Senate is expected to launch an immigration debate in a matter of days, as soon as the shutdown threat is averted. The agreement also includes aid to respond to recent natural disasters.

The Treasury Department has been warning that without an extension in borrowing authority from Congress, the government would run out of borrowing options in the first half of March.

It would also extend the debt ceiling for another year, reducing fears of an unprecedented usa debt default.

The 652-page measure was unveiled late Wednesday.

Extends certain tax provisions, including from the new GOP tax law, and edits some parts of the tax code.

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This story has been corrected to show that the $300 billion is for both defense and domestic programs.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc Connell  and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talk during the congressional Gold Medal ceremony for former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole at the U.S. Capitol