Trump, congressional leaders clinch sweeping deal on budget and debt ceiling

President Donald Trump and bipartisan congressional leaders clinched a sweeping two-year budget agreement that would produce hundreds of billions in new spending and take the threat of a fiscal crisis off of Washington’s plate for more than two years.
The deal, which came together in a burst of urgency during a period of two weeks amid a steady stream of phone calls Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, would eliminate — for good — the budget caps put into place in 2011 and suspend the debt ceiling until July 31, 2021.

The agreement, should it pass both chambers of Congress and be signed into law, would remove twin crises staring down the White House and lawmakers in the looming spending cuts and debt ceiling deadline, clearing the decks on both until after the 2020 election.

In a brief interview Monday evening, Pelosi said two factors above all played a critical role in her successful behind-the-scenes negotiations with Mnuchin: avoiding a stock market collapse and the fiscal fallout from failing to raise the debt ceiling.

“The debt ceiling and the stock market were always two major motivators for him to try and clear the way,” Pelosi told CNN. “We avoided sequestration and for the moment avoided a shutdown. For federal workers, that was very important.”

Pelosi, in a joint statement with Schumer touting the boosts in spending for Democratic priorities, said the House will move to pass the legislation before the chamber departs on Friday for a six-week recess.

“The House will now move swiftly to bring the budget caps and debt ceiling agreement legislation to the Floor, so that it can be sent to the President’s desk as soon as possible,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement. “With this agreement, we can avoid the damage of sequestration and continue to advance progress for the people.”

More From CNN: