On Oct. 30, House and Senate lawmakers finally sat down at the negotiating table to try to hammer out a compromise budget blueprint for fiscal year 2014. If the talks, led by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate budget panel Chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.), succeed, the product will be the first budget resolution to be enacted since 2009. But the clock is ticking: Congress has set a Dec. 13 deadline for conferees to reach an agreement.
That tight time frame increases the chances the conference committee will take a narrow focus—for example, seeking a compromise on discretionary spending caps. The Senate budget calls for a $1.058-trillion limit for 2014; the House's cap is $966 billion.