Late Friday night, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and President Obama reached agreement on a spending bill that will fund the government for the last six months of Fiscal Year 2011, which ends on September 30, 2011. The agreement is actually two bills -- a seven day continuing resolution that will allow time for the last minute work needed to enact the full spending package. That  package reportedly contains roughly $38 billion less for FY2011 than was requested by the Obama Administration back in February 2010. In doing so, Congress and the White House narrowly averted the first government shutdown since 1995.

According to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) the estimated $38 biillion in cuts represents  the “largest real dollar spending cut in American history.” True or not, the cuts are a significant reduction in the Obama Administration's proposed spending for FY2011, and will force real changes in a broad range of federal programs which will have fewer resources with which to do their work.

Specific details of the agreement are not yet available.  As more is learned, NPP will re-release its materials related to this February's FY2012 President's Budget request to reflect the changes in FY2011 spending. We invite you to examine our current FY2012 materials, and to check back with us over the coming days as we update them in light of recent congressional action.

Agreement on funding for the remainder of FY2011 is only the latest round in a series of events in Washington related to the federal budget.  On April 5, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released “Path to Prosperity,” his budget proposal for FY2012, with projections through FY2021. NPP's analysis of Chairman Ryan's proposal compares it to the Obama Administration's FY2012 request.

Other proposals are circulating, and will likely contribute to the debate as the House begins its work on the FY2012 budget this week. Likewise, the White House has announced that President Obama will release a long-term deficit reduction plan on Wednesday.  Check in with NPP's "Budget Matters" blog and on our Facebook page for our latest analysis, or follow us on Twitter.