President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Monday announced a tentative two-year budget deal. Part of the deal includes raising spending caps by $320 billion and suspending the debt ceiling until after the 2020 presidential election, The Washington Post reported.
The increase in spending is being split between domestic programs and the military, with each expected to receive $17 million in additional funds, Bloomberg reported.
The national debt is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2020.
President Trump took to Twitter to announce the news.
I am pleased to announce that a deal has been struck with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy - on a two-year Budget and Debt Ceiling, with no poison pills....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2019
....This was a real compromise in order to give another big victory to our Great Military and Vets!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2019
People on both sides of the aisle take issue with the agreement, but for different reasons.
Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT) wanted to see a budget that blocked President Trump from using funds to build the long anticipated border wall.
Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), on the other hand, wasn't happy that the national debt was increasing.
I encouraged President Trump yesterday to hold the line in the budget negotiations. Speaker Pelosi's big government agenda will drive our nation into bankruptcy unless conservatives demand more fiscal responsibility.
— Rep. Mike Johnson (@RepMikeJohnson) July 22, 2019
Trump believes they're making the right moves on the debt debacle.
“We are I think doing very well on debt, if you look at debt limit, however you want to define that, but we’re doing very well on that and I think we’re doing pretty well on a budget,” Trump told reporters Monday. “Very important that we take care of our military, our military was depleted and in the last two-and-a half years we undepleted it, okay, to put it mildly, we have made it stronger than ever before. We need another big year.”
Conservatives, however, are urging Trump to back out of the deal.
“You should veto this bill because it is fiscally irresponsible," members of Congress wrote Trump in a letter obtained by POLITICO. "It blows well beyond what was intended with the 2011 [Budget Control Act] caps. Furthermore, it continues spending hundreds of billions more than what we take in a year and does not put our nation on a path towards a balanced budget."
"As the greatest nation in the history of the world, the least we can do is cut a deal that does not sabotage the fiscal future of our nation while endangering millions of American and migrants because of our porous border," the letter said. "We can do better."
The letter was drafted by freshman Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and is currently circulating Capitol Hill. House Freedom Caucus members Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Michael Cloud (R-TX) and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) are expected to sign onto the letter.
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