Obama signs budget deal

President Obama has signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, locking in the terms of the two-year budget deal Congress hammered out last week that would raise the debt ceiling and lift sequestration spending caps by $80 billion.

The total federal spending increase over the 2011 Budget Control Act caps will be $50 billion in fiscal year 2016 and $30 billion in FY-17, with the amounts divided equally between defense and domestic priorities. The additional spending would be funded by cuts to Medicare and Social Security entitlements and sales from the strategic petroleum oil reserve.

The Obama administration is poised to receive $33 billion of the $38 billion national defense spending increase it has sought for FY-16, according to the arrangement.

Congress now has until Dec. 11 to cobble together an FY-16 omnibus spending bill.