At the brink of shutdown drama, potential two-year military funding deal hangs in balance

WASHINGTON – As the clock ticked closer to a government shutdown Friday, lawmakers said they were nearing a deal on a massive $1.4 trillion, two-year defense budget plan.

The effort would lift defense budget caps that have for years bedeviled the Pentagon, usher in a new stability for military spending and trigger a wave of modernization.

On Thursday, lawmakers faced a more urgent priority by midnight: Keep the federal government operating with a potential short-term spending deal.

But the looming shutdown didn’t stop a bipartisan group of Senate leaders praise their two-year deal to bust budget caps.

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