Negotiators working to hash out a deal to raise the debt limit were getting closer to agreement late Thursday on a framework that could potentially lift the nation’s borrowing cap until sometime in 2025 and set appropriations caps for the next two fiscal years.
A source familiar with the talks said the package would provide enough borrowing authority to last two years, which GOP lawmakers said earlier Thursday would require something on the order of $3.5 trillion to $4 trillion.
Two years of discretionary caps would be less than the 10 years House Republicans wanted and included in their debt limit bill that passed last month. The total amount of fiscal 2024 appropriations was still in flux, but the topline was likely to be close to a freeze at current-year levels — rather than the 8 percent cut Republicans sought. But spending would grow just 1 percent the following year, in line with the GOP bill.
