The federal government looks to be getting out of the business of trying to spur the economy just as the U.S. expansion shows increasing signs of faltering, Bloomberg reported.

A deal struck over the weekend to cut $2.4 trillion or more off budget deficits over a decade marks the beginning of a prolonged effort to put the government’s finances into better shape. Though the immediate economic impact of the agreement is likely to be small, it will add to a reduction in growth next year of 1.5 percentage points coming from the expiration of past stimulus programs, according to economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank Securities.

The deal was approved Monday in the U.S. House of Representatives and today in the Senate.

“Over the next 10 years, there will be further spending cuts and higher taxes, and that’s not good for economic growth,” said Paul Dales, senior economist for Capital Economics Ltd. in Toronto. “It is the start of a meaningful move toward fiscal consolidation.”

The shift from stimulus to austerity coincides with a slowdown in the two-year recovery. A report last week showed that the gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 1.3 percent in the second quarter of the year following a 0.4 percent pace of growth in the first three months, prompting economists to warn of a possible relapse into recession, Bloomberg said.

The economy will suffer another blow next year with the expiration of a temporary 2 percent payroll tax cut, an end to extended unemployment benefits and completion of the $830 billion stimulus program that President Barack Obama signed into law more than two years ago. Obama will press Congress to extend a cut in payroll taxes before the end of the year, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday.

“There is a risk to the recovery that a large amount of fiscal drag is coming at a time when the economy is struggling,” said Peter Hooper, chief economist for Deutsche Bank Securities in New York.

The debt deal would reduce government outlays by $21 billion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 and by $42 billion in the following year, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.