US reaches a deal to avert fresh shutdown
NEGOTIATORS in the US Congress have reached agreement on a $1 trillion spending bill aimed at keeping the federal government open through 30 September, Senate Appropriations Committee chair Barbara Mikulski said last night.
A bill was due to be filed overnight for final passage on Saturday, and would ease some of the so-called sequester cuts by boosting military spending.
Another shutdown was scheduled to occur this week if Congress failed to approve new spending authority.
The deal came as the US Treasury posted its biggest December budget surplus on record, helped by $37.6bn dividends from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The government brought in $53.2bn (£32.3bn) more in revenue than it spent in the month, its first surplus in the month since 2007.