A budget deal has been reached - TheHill.com

President Obama and Democratic and Republican congressional leaders have reached a deal to avoid a government shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) issued a joint statement Friday night: 

We have agreed to an historic amount of cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year, as well as a short-term bridge that will give us time to avoid a shutdown while we get that agreement through both houses and to the President. We will cut $78.5 billion below the President’s 2011 budget proposal, and we have reached an agreement on the policy riders. In the meantime, we will pass a short-term resolution to keep the government running through Thursday. That short-term bridge will cut the first $2 billion of the total savings.

The president spoke from the White House and thanked Boehner and Reid for their leadership, but he said, "I would not have made these cuts in better circumstances."

Boehner presented the bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown to members of his caucus less than two hours before the midnight deadline.

Boehner informed his colleagues of the details and asked them to pass a three- to six-day stop-gap measure to keep the government funded.

Asked if he thinks he is happy about the deal, Boehner paused and then told The Hill, "It's as good a deal as we could get."

While some conservatives wanted more cuts, most House GOP members were pleased and gave Boehner a standing ovation.

The bipartisan deal also calls for a yearly audit of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was included in the Dodd-Frank bill. The audit will be conducted by Government Accountability Office.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) lauded the deal, saying it includes significant cuts.

"I am very happy about it," McConnell told The Hill in a brief interview.

Boehner urged his conservative rank and file to drop policy riders that would eliminate Title X funding for family planning services and defund Planned Parenthood. 

Instead, a sixth-month measure funding the government for the rest of the fiscal year would include a rider to reinstate a ban on taxpayer funding of abortions in Washington, D.C.

Negotiators are still haggling over $37 to $40 billion in spending cuts for the rest of fiscal-year 2011. Boehner has complained President Obama has made it difficult to accept an agreement on spending cuts by insisting a hefty percentage come from mandatory programs. 

Leaders plan to pass a short-term funding resolution to give them time to iron out these details but the main outlines of the compromise have been set. 

Even so, there’s not enough time to draft a bill to keep the government running for the rest of the fiscal year. That means the Senate and House would have to pass a short-term resolution, lasting three days to a week, to avoid a shut down.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who's running for Senate in 2012, said he was "disappointed" with the deal.

"A lot of us are quite disappointed with the level" of spending cuts, he said.

Sean J. Miller contributed.

via thehill.com