In the early morning hours today, the Senate passed a two-year budget agreement that raises budget caps for FY16 and FY17. The House voted to pass the budget deal earlier this week.
The budget deal increases discretionary budget authority by $80 billion over the two-year period–$50 billion in FY16 and $30 billion in FY17. These elevated budget caps replace sequestration, which would have required severe, across-the-board cuts on federal spending that could have devastated many federal programs, including those administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).
With this budget deal in place, congressional appropriators now are tasked with deciding how to distribute the available funds across federal programs. Proposals considered by House and Senate Appropriations Committees earlier this year would reduce significantly the investment in CNCS, cutting the federal agency’s budget by up to 34 percent.