House could vote Thursday on budget deal

The House could vote as early as Thursday on the budget deal unveiled by negotiators Tuesday night.

The House Budget Committee filed the text of the new deal before midnight on Tuesday, and the Rules Committee announced an emergency meeting at 2 p.m. on Wednesday to prepare a House floor vote on the package.

The text of the $85 billion deal is here.

{mosads}The deal negotiated by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) sets spending levels for 2014 and 2015, allowing appropriators to create a fully detailed omnibus spending package before the government shutdown deadline of Jan. 15.  

The spending panel will also now have the chance to do all 12 individual appropriations bills for the next fiscal year. That hasn’t happened in years and should allow better scrutiny of agency budgets. 

The question is whether the bill would pass muster in the House. The drive toward a quick vote seems intended to beat back opposition before it picks up strength. 

Ryan will be trying to sell the deal to the GOP conference at a 9 a.m. closed-door meeting. 

Some conservative groups already are increasing their opposition.

Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham penned a USA Today op-ed on Wednesday denouncing the pact.

The group does not like the fact that spending cuts are shifted to later years and that user fees on aviation go to offset non-aviation costs.

“What the deal really demonstrates, however, is the continued power of the third party in Washington — appropriators. These members, some Democrat and others Republican, forced the Party of Reagan to throw away spending cuts that could have been used as leverage for serious entitlement reforms or simply kept as savings for the hard-working American taxpayer,” Needham wrote.

— This story was updated at 9:19 a.m.