BUDGET/CONGRESS/SPENDING/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “White House and congressional negotiators reached accord on a two-year budget on Monday [7-22-19] that would raise spending by $320 billion over existing caps and allow the government to keep borrowing, most likely averting a fiscal crisis but splashing still more red ink on an already surging deficit. If passed by Congress and signed by President Trump, the deal would stop a potential debt default this fall and avoid automatic spending cuts next year. The agreement would also bring clarity about government spending over the rest of Mr. Trump’s term, though Congress must still fill in the details, program by program…A statement issued late Monday by Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, echoed Mr. Trump’s tweet and urged both chambers to pass the deal quickly. But it is another sign that a Capitol once consumed by fiscal worries simply no longer cares — even as the government’s deficit approaches $1 trillion a year. Still, the accord would lift the debt ceiling high enough to allow the government to keep borrowing for two more years, punting the next showdown past the 2020 elections.”
–Emily Cochrane, Alan Rappeport and Jim Tankersley, “Federal Budget Would Raise Spending by $320 Billion,” The New York Times online, July 22, 2019