The emerging agreement will extend the Treasury Department's borrowing authority until Feb. 7, reopen the government and fund federal agencies through mid-January, according to aides and lawmakers familiar with the negotiations.
In the meantime, policymakers will launch a new round of talks over broader budget issues in hopes of developing a plan to replace deep automatic spending cuts known as sequestration before Jan. 15. That is when the next round of sequester cuts is scheduled to slice an additional $20 billion off of agency budgets, primarily from the Pentagon.
The framework under consideration includes only minor changes to President Barack Obama's signature health care law, falling well short of defunding it or delaying major provisions as conservative Republicans initially sought. Instead, Republicans will get only new safeguards to ensure that people who receive federal subsidies to purchase health insurance under the law are eligible to receive them.