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Obama urges Congress to pass budget deal immediately

by Jordan Fabian - 10/27/15 4:27 PM ET

President Obama on Tuesday urged Congress to immediately pass a two-year budget deal, calling it the best hope to end the constant battles over government funding that have plagued Washington.

“I hope both parties come together to pass this agreement without delay,” Obama said during a speech to police chiefs in Chicago. “They’ve got a few days to do it.”

{mosads}Obama warned Republicans, though, not to attach unrelated policy riders to must-pass government funding bills in December.

“I hope Congress gets right to work on spending bills to advance America’s priorities and they don’t get sidetracked by ideological provisions that have no place in America’s budget process,” he said.

The bipartisan budget deal is a significant victory for Obama, who drove a hard bargain with Republican leaders in Congress to lift spending caps he has long argued have slowed the economic recovery.

“I am pretty happy about that because it reflects our values, growing the economy and the middle class by investing in things like education and job training that are needed and it keeps us safe by investing in our national security,” the president said of the deal.

“It’s paid for, in part, by a measure that makes sure private equity firms and hedge funds pay what they owe in taxes, just like everybody else.”

Putting aside fiscal fights with Republicans could also free Obama to focus priorities such as trade and criminal justice reform during his last 15 months in office.

The pact would extend the debt ceiling to March 2017 and raise budget caps by $112 billion over the next two years, avoiding threats of a government shutdown and debt default until after next year’s presidential election.

The deal comes ahead of a Nov. 3 deadline to lift the debt ceiling and a Dec. 11 deadline to fund the government.

Tags Barack Obama