Budget deal clears the way for $1.4 trillion, two-year military funding plan

WASHINGTON – An agreement reached in the midst of a short-lived federal government shutdown Friday will let lawmakers move forward on a plan to bust budget caps for a $1.4 trillion, two-year defense budget.

The new agreement, which lifts military spending limits for the next two years, funds the government through a stopgap measure until March 23. By then, lawmakers are hoping to issue a more permanent funding plan.

A two-year budget would usher in a new wave of stability for military spending following a slew of stopgap funding measures in recent years and help trigger a new era of modernization efforts for the armed forces.

“This budget deal finally makes good on our promise to provide for the men and women who so faithfully serve our nation in uniform,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Friday in a statement. “It lays the groundwork for appropriating the funding level authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2018 and provides real growth in fiscal year 2019.”

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