Rep. Cole predicts the budget will pass
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) predicts the new budget deal reached Tuesday night will pass.
“My view is it will pass,” Cole said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday.
{mosads}Cole is a member of the House Budget and Appropriations Committees. The House is expected to vote on the deal Thursday.
“There’s certainly going to be opposition on both ends of the political spectrum. There’s a lot to be happy with here: government stability, the securing of the sequester cuts, redistribution of that money in a more reasonable way that protects defense,” he added.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the chairmen of the Senate and House Budget committees, unveiled the deal Tuesday evening. It would call for $1 trillion in federal spending for fiscal 2014. The budget would also replace $63 billion in automatic spending cuts known as the sequester for two years.
“I applaud Paul Ryan and Patty Murray getting something modest, achievable, and obtainable and generally bipartisan,” Cole said.
Other lawmakers wanted something bigger, the congressman said, but added, “in this environmental that probably wasn’t obtainable.” Democrats, for example, originally wanted the deal to contain benefits for the unemployed.
If Congress passes the budget, they’ll avoid another government shutdown in mid-January.
“I think we all know that’s just not ever going to result in something good for the country or something politically good frankly for folks that provoke it,” Cole said.
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