Bipartisan negotiators reach modest budget pact

Bipartisan negotiators reach modest budget pact

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shedding gridlock, key members of Congress reached a modest budget agreement today to restore about $63 billion in automatic spending cuts from programs ranging from parks to the Pentagon. The increases would be offset by a variety of spending reductions and increased fees elsewhere in the budget totaling about $85 billion over a decade, leaving enough for a largely symbolic cut of more than $20 billion in the nation’s $17 trillion debt.