Republican Senate Approves Trump-Pelosi Deal to Up Spending $320 Billion; Limitless Debt for 2 Years – By CNS News Staff (CNS News) / Aug 1 2019
(CNSNews.com) – The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted 67-28 to approve legislation today that will increase federal spending by $320 billion over the next two fiscal years while allowing the government to increase the debt without any limit until July 31, 2021.
The Democrat-controlled House approved the bill last week.
Acting on behalf of the Trump Administration, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin negotiated the “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019”—as it is called–with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.). House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R.-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) backed the deal.
President Donald Trump has aggressively promoted it and will sign it into law.
This morning, before the vote, President Trump sent out a Tweet pointing out that the bill pushes the spending issue past the 2020 election. Trump’s Tweet said: “Budget Deal is phenomenal for our Great Military, our Vets, and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! Two year deal gets us past the Election. Go for it Republicans, there is always plenty of time to CUT!”
The bill removes the limits on discretionary federal spending for fiscal 2020 and 2021 that were set by the Budget Control Act of 2011. That law was a deal between then-President Barack Obama and Republicans who then controlled the House of Representatives. It allowed for an increase in the debt limit that was supposed to be offset by limiting spending in later years. The new spending deal passed by the Senate today lifts those spending limits set in 2011 for fiscal 2020 and 2021 and will allow $320 billion in spending above what those limits would have allowed.
Of the 53 Republicans in the Senate, 29 voted for this new spending-and-debt deal, 23 voted against it, and one did not vote.
Four Democratic senators who are seeking their party’s presidential nomination did not vote on the bill. These included Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Two Democratic senators who are seeking their party’s presidential nomination—Michael Bennet of Colorado and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota—voted against the bill. Democratic Senators Thomas Carper of Delaware and Jon Tester of Montana also voted against it.
Thirty-seven Democrats and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine joined the 29 Republicans in voting for it.
To see the full roll-call vote click here: https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=1&vote=00262
