Before Start of GOP Debate, House Passes Budget Deal

Matt Vespa | October 28, 2015 7:18 PM

Right before the start of CNBC’s GOP presidential debate, the House passed the budget agreement that was negotiated between Congress and the White House. The deal would, among other things, raise the debt ceiling until March of 2017. It angered conservative Republicans on the Hill, who were already put off by how this agreement came about, given that negotiations reportedly began last month. The details of the debt agreement have many on the right calling this a legislative “surrender.” Guy had more on this point in his analysis of the deal. In all, 79 Republicans and every Democrat voted for the deal (via Politico):

The House passed an $80 billion budget deal on Wednesday that will eliminate high-stakes fiscal battles until 2017 — and close the book on the nearly seven years of budget warfare that helped define President Barack Obama’s presidency.

The 266 to 167 vote was a solid win for Republicans leaders who have often struggled to secure enough GOP support for budgets, a pattern that produced a seemingly endless cycle of government shutdown deadlines and brinksmanship.

But 79 Republicans joined 187 Democrats to pass the deal — giving Speaker John Boehner a final legislative victory before he retires at the end of the week. The Ohio Republican, along with Senate GOP leaders and the White House, was a key player in crafting the deal, as Boehner worked to “clean out the barn” before his successor, Paul D. Ryan, takes the speaker’s gavel.

Boehner hailed the agreement after it passed, and highlighted the measure’s changes to entitlement programs, which helped offset the measure’s spending increases.

For Boehner, it “cleans the barn” for Ryan, who ended up supporting the deal, as he makes his exit from public life. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has already threatened to filibuster the deal in the Senate.