White House: Budget deal would create 500,000 jobs

By Joseph Lawler, Joseph Lawler

Published December 20, 2015

By raising government spending over the next two years, the budget deal being discussed among congressional leaders would create the equivalent of 500,000 new jobs over the next two years, the White House said Tuesday.

"This agreement strengthens both short and long-run growth, setting the stage for more, higher-paid jobs," White House economic adviser Jason Furman wrote in a blog post on the White House site Tuesday morning.

By highlighting the possibility that the deal could provide fiscal stimulus and boost growth, the Obama administration is encouraging congressional liberals who might be reluctant to support the compromise. The draft that Congress will consider in the next few days includes some spending reductions in entitlement programs opposed by liberals.

Furman noted that the deal would result in $111 billion in federal spending over the next two years. That includes $80 billion in spending above the caps set in previous law, as well as $31 billion in additional spending through a war account that is not subject to the caps.