Hey, good morning. I'm playbook co-author Rachel Bade. It's Monday, January 8th. Congress returns from its three-week congressional recess to some good news this morning.

Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have finally reached an agreement on top-line spending numbers. That's the first step, as you know, toward avoiding a

shutdown later this month. What's more, bipartisan Senate negotiators appear to have made

progress over the break on border talks. These are the conversations that have long stalled

the White House's request for $100 billion in national security supplemental funding.

The negotiators are even hopeful to release a framework

later this week. But don't pop that champagne just yet. Significant hurdles remain that could

easily trip up either of these issues. But before I get into those potential problems,

a little detail on the deal. This Johnson-Schumer Accord largely tracks with the bipartisan

debt-sealing deal

that Kevin McCarthy struck with the White House earlier this year. Yes, the same deal that the now

ousted speaker reneged on to appease conservatives, which still didn't save his job. The agreement

calls for $886 billion in defense spending in nearly $773 billion in non-defense spending.

The latter number includes $700 billion in base spending for non-defense issues, but also a $69 billion side deal handshake agreement that was made with negotiators last spring.

As for those problems, number one, unhappy conservatives.

In a dear colleague letter yesterday,

Speaker Johnson touted this agreement as a win, calling it the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade. The Senate, after all, had been pushing for an

additional $14 billion in spending above the bipartisan debt ceiling deal. McCarthy struck

with the White House earlier this year.

Johnson not only blocked that increase, but also secured an additional $16 billion in offsets

for discretionary spending for a total of about $30 billion in cuts over what the Senate wanted.

The right, however, isn't buying the spin. They're furious that Johnson didn't hold the line on this, quote,

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