Debt Ceiling Deal Could Be Announced Tonight

The White House and the congressional leaders have struck a deal that would raise the debt ceiling and include a two-year spending legislation could be announced Monday evening, anonymous sources told The Hill.

“Hopefully we’re able to announce something this evening,” an unnamed Senate source said, according to The Hill. The Hill report said that word of the deal had reached sources on the House GOP appropriation staff, and it would possibly be brought up at the Monday Republican leadership meeting.

After The Hill report was published, CNN also reported some details of the potential deal. Sources told CNN the debt ceiling would be raised through the 2016 elections and the spending legislation will lift previous budget caps while including new cuts to counter the increases in spending.

The New York Times also has reported on the deal discussions and said "officials briefed on the negotiations said the emerging accord would call for cuts in spending on Medicare and Social Security disability benefits."

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has expressed a desire to "clean the barn" before his planned departure as speaker later this week. Such a deal would relieve his presumed successor Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) of the intense pressure he was facing balancing the demands a brinkmanship-loving House members and the series of high stakes deadlines facing Congress after the speaker elections, which are scheduled to wrap up by Thursday. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said the debt ceiling will need to be raised by Nov. 3 to avoid a government default. A short-term spending bill passed last month is set to expire Dec. 11.