House Passes Budget Deal

The House voted to pass the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which would lift federal spending caps by $80 billion over the next two years. The spending increase would be offset in part by cuts to Social Security and Medicare, in addition to selling almost 9 percent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The measure is expected to be cleared by the Senate.

The budget deal, negotiated by the White House and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), also would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, allowing the government to pay its debts until March 2017. The Treasury Department says the current debt ceiling will be breached on Nov. 3, at which point the U.S. government will default on some of its debt obligations.