On Tuesday,
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) announced a preliminary
budget agreement that would replace the discretionary budget caps for Fiscal
Year (FY) 2014 and FY 2015 established in 2011 as part of the Budget Control
Act (BCA).The deal replaces approximately half of the sequestration cuts to
non-defense discretionary for FY 2014 and approximately a quarter in FY
2015. Under the Ryan-Murray proposal, the new non-defense discretionary
budget cap would be $491 billion for FY 2014 (an increase of $22.4 billion from
the BCA level) and $492.4 billion for FY 2015 (an increase of $9.3 billion from
the BCA level).
The current
funding for the federal government expires on January 15, 2014, and Congress
must still reach an agreement on funding for the remainder of FY 2014 once both
chambers of Congress pass the budget agreement. Federal spending for highways
is currently being funded at the FY 2013 level of $40.4 billion under the
temporary agreement. Most transportation accounts with mandatory funding are
exempt from sequestration; however, $739 million per year in highway funding
will remain subject to annual cuts.