The ink is barely dry on the bipartisan deal to lift the debt limit and lawmakers are already squabbling over how to manage — or work around — the spending caps included.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is squaring off with Senate Republicans, who are pushing for additional defense spending beyond the cuts outlined in the debt limit deal.
“This is the beef I have,” McCarthy said to reporters on Tuesday.
“We just came to an agreement, and the first thing I hear over there, ‘I don’t want to vote for it. We need to supplemental,’” the speaker said, referring to a stand-alone bill to boost defense spending.
Republican defense hawks have railed against the bill for including a penalty of automatic across-the-board cuts if lawmakers don’t finish their annual spending bills by the end of the calendar year.
Lawmakers haven’t met their annual funding deadline since 1997.
Top Democrats insist that if Republicans are opening the door to more defense spending, they’ll need to pony up for domestic programs, too.
“That conversation has to consider more than just Defense and Ukraine because there are so many important priorities like border security, disaster relief, and other nondefense items that we should not let be shortchanged,” said Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, struck a similar note Tuesday while discussing if lawmakers look to a supplemental funding measure that “would increase overall defense spending.”
“Unless there is a willingness to increase domestic spending at the same time, you know, we’ll just see,” she added.
