Reports emerge of budget deal

Though several media reports have surfaced today indicating that Democrats and Republicans are close to an accord that would lift the debt ceiling and fund the federal government for the next two fiscal years, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stressed that a deal has yet to be inked.

"Nothing is agreed to in the context of those discussions until everything is agreed to," he said Oct. 26. "As I stand here today, not everything has been agreed to and that means that nothing at this point has been agreed to."

Earnest said increased defense spending -- matched by a "dollar for dollar" increase in other government funding -- needs to be at the core of any deal that would lift the spending caps imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act, also known as sequestration.

At present, the GOP has put forth spending plans that circumvent the BCA caps for defense by using the exempt overseas contingency operations account, while leaving them in place for other areas of government.

"We have acknowledged that any sort of budget agreement will be a compromise," he said. "And that means that there will be things included in that bill that we're not very happy about."

For instance, some media outlets reported that lawmakers have agreed on cuts to Medicare and Social Security, some of which could be reinvested for increases in defense and non-defense spending.

"However much they can come up with in savings, and whatever they decide is the defense versus non-defense split will determine how much defense gets," according a Hill staffer. "I think most people agree it's a two-year deal or bust."

Congress has until Nov. 3 to raise the debt ceiling and until Dec. 11 to keep the federal government funded.

Meanwhile, the House is set to vote Thursday on a speaker to succeed Rep. John Boenher (R-OH), who is retiring at the end of the month. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has emerged as a leading candidate after securing the support of many in the GOP's anti-spending wing known as the Freedom Caucus. Ryan, along with Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), helped cobble together a compromise to avert federal shutdown in 2013.

Known as the Murray-Ryan deal, the law raised BCA caps for FY-14 and FY-15 in return for extending the imposition of the caps into 2022 and 2023 for a projected $23 billion long-term cut to the federal deficit.

Earnest said the White House continued to see the Murray-Ryan deal as the standard for a new compromise.

"We're hopeful Democrats and Republicans will pursue a similar template," he said.