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Jeff Sessions, GOP: Obama Got 'Whatever He Wanted' in Budget Deal
Tuesday, October 27, 2015 07:42 AM
By: Loren Gutentag
Eager to keep the strict spending caps from a 2011 budget agreement, conservatives are uncertain of a new tentative two-year budget deal between Congress and the White House that would boost defense and domestic spending and lift the nation's debt limit through March 2017, Politico reports.
Although the two-year deal would eliminate the threats of a government shut down and a debt default until after the November 2016 elections, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., noted that "last minute deals make me very nervous" and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., added that his "knees quiver at the sound" of the agreement.
"I’m worried about how fast it’s moving. I see no reason for that. Based on what I know now, it appears the president got whatever he wanted," Sessions added after he expressed frustration that outgoing Speaker John Boehner rolled out the deal just days before he announced his resignation.
According to Politico, the deal, which has not yet been finalized, would boost defense and domestic spending above sequestration levels by $50 billion in the first year and $30 billion in the second year.
In each year, there would be an additional $16 billion spent using the Overseas Contingency Operations fund. In addition, there would be a large increase in Medicare programs.
“I don’t think you’ll hear anybody popping any champagne corks," said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, according to Politico.
Disappointed with our countries leadership, Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., said, "We're really tired of the top-down, micromanagement where you have just a few people, or in this case just the speaker and his team, determining the outcome."
Amash added, "This is a fair reason to vote against the bill."
However, according to Politico, the tentative agreement will likely "win support from defense hawks who had demanded more funding for the Pentagon and were willing to strike a budget agreement with Democrats to do so, even if that meant boosting domestic spending.
Some Republicans, such as Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., had a positive understanding of the deal. “I think that we could move forward with this,” McCain said. “It averts a shutdown. It puts any of these problems into two years from now and so I think it’s the best deal we can get."
Meanwhile, Tuesday morning the White House urged Congress to pass the deal, calling it "responsible."
"It's a responsible agreement that is paid for in a balanced way by ensuring that hedge funds and private equity firms pay the taxes they owe and by cutting billions in wasteful spending," a White House official said in a statement.
