Opinion | Speaker Johnson’s Spending Deal

Can House Republicans govern in 2024—even a little—after the lost year of 2023? One modestly promising sign is the budget deal that House Speaker Mike Johnson struck with Democrats over the weekend on federal spending levels for fiscal 2024.

The agreement largely hews to the debt-ceiling deal of last spring, with a few additional fiscal benefits. Fiscal 2024 discretionary spending (through this September) will remain at $1.59 trillion, as specified by statute in the Fiscal Responsibility Act agreed to by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden in May. That’s a minor victory by itself since Senate appropriators intended to bust that cap by adding another $14 billion.