WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has signed a two-year budget deal to avert a potential government shutdown, which also included proposals for civil and military assistance to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In the budget proposal, the administration sought a total of $613 billion for defence, including $38bn for Overseas Contingency Operations fund. This fund is normally reserved for fighting overseas wars.

For 2015-16, the Obama administration sought $5.3bn for Afghanistan and more than a billion dollars for Pakistan.

The funds for Afghanistan include $3.8bn for running and training the national defence forces.

On Friday, the US Senate passed this comprehensive budget deal that lifts the US debt ceiling into March 2017 and spending levels for two years.

The Senate voted 64-35 to approve the deal, two days after the House overwhelmingly passed the legislation, 266-167.

In remarks broadcast directly from the Oval Office, Obama noted that last week, Democrats and Republicans came together to set up a responsible long-term budget process.

“What we now see is a budget that reflects our values, grows our economy, creates jobs and keeps America safe,” he said. “It should finally free us from the cycle of shutdown threats and last-minute fixes.”

The president signed the bipartisan bill just one day before the Nov 3 deadline for averting a US default on its debt.

The agreement lifts spending caps and suspends the debt limit until 2017.

The deal is designed to end the fiscal battles with Republicans in Congress that marked Obama’s eight-year, two-term tenure.

But Congressional insiders say that clashes will continue and the Republicans will now focus on policy riders to spending bills.

Obama, however, urged the lawmakers to avoid “getting sidetracked by a whole bunch of ideological issues” and come up with a similar understanding on spending bills.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2015

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