House to vote on budget deal Thursday
Democrats will bring a bipartisan deal to raise spending caps and suspend the debt ceiling to a House vote on Thursday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Wednesday.
The vote will be among the last the House takes before leaving town for a six-week August recess.
{mosads}The Senate is expected to take up the vote next week, before it begins its own recess.
The legislation would head off a potential debt default and steep spending cuts.
President Trump announced the deal on Twitter on Monday, but has faced pressure from conservatives to disavow it. When compared to the potential spending cuts, the deal would add $320 billion to federal spending over two years.
Among Democrats, questions remained as to whether progressives would object to increased defense spending, or fiscal conservatives would object to the deficit-financed spending.
But Democrats said that the deal was well-received during a morning caucus presentation by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on the legislation.
“We had a whole presentation from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on how good this deal was, how far above expectations it was, what a great negotiator our Speaker is. No one stood up at all to oppose it,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a progressive who intends to vote for it.
Speaking to reporters, Hoyer declined to predict a vote count, but said it would easily pass.
“We’re going to have a majority of votes,” he said.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a leading progressive who has staunchly opposed large increases to defense spending, said Wednesday that he would vote for the deal.
“This deal isn’t perfect but includes $100B more for domestic priorities,” he tweeted.
“I’ll vote yes but will fight to reduce defense spending in approps. Every dem should recognize that the Budget Control Act was awful policy & should pledge not to arbitrarily handcuff a future Dem President,” he added.
— Updated 12:30 p.m.
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