The White House and congressional Republicans have reached a tentative deal to set a two-year federal budget and raise the debt ceiling, reports The Hill. The deal—which could come to a vote in the House as early as Wednesday—represents *gasp* a compromise on the distribution of funds between the Pentagon and domestic programs.

You will recall President Obama catching a lot of shit last week for making a public show of vetoing a defense spending bill meant to insulate the military from what looked certain to be a protracted battle with Republicans over the debt ceiling and the lingering budget limits of sequestration. The National Review, for example, said the veto “betrays America’s military” and accuses President Obama of “using the military as leverage” to enable an “Oprah-style spending spree.” Ken Allard of the Washington Times said the veto “risks military supremacy” during the whole couple of weeks it might have left Pentagon spending up in the air. TNR rightly points out, though, that the veto had less to do with objections to the bill itself than it did with its true intent, which was to enable congressional Republicans to dig in their heels on domestic spending.

The deal reported by The Hill is surprisingly balanced in its distribution of budget dollars:

It would raise those caps by a total of $112 billion in fiscal 2016 and 2017, according to a person briefed on the agreement.

Those funds would be divided equally between defense and nondefense spending, charting a compromise between Republican defense hawks pushing for more Pentagon spending and Democrats who wanted more spending on domestic programs as well.

The report points out that the timing of the deal gives Paul Ryan a “fresh start” should he become Speaker of the House, as expected. And, if passed, it takes the looming threat of a government shutdown—which would have worked for absolutely no one who isn’t beholden to lunatic Tea Party voters—completely off the table. Along those lines, The Hill reports members of the House Freedom Caucus complained to John Boehner in a closed-door meeting Monday night.

Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) told Boehner that leadership negotiations were a “perfect example of how things are broken in Washington.

Boehner reportedly responded by suggesting President Obama wants to shut down the federal government, and this deal is the GOP’s best chance of avoiding that trap. It’s hard to imagine, though, how that line could be persuasive to conservative Republicans who, themselves, favor a government shutdown to even a partial abandonment of conservative principles.

If the deal passes in its current form—and that’s still a pretty big “if”—it will have to be a relatively bipartisan effort, with Democrats expected to object to cuts to Medicare and Social Security disability benefits used as offsets for the increases in spending. Some House Democrats have warned they will oppose any deal that decreases benefits.

The deal was presented to members of both parties Monday night.

[The Hill]

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