The Democrat-led House passed the recently negotiated comprehensive budget deal Thursday that would suspend the debt ceiling until mid-2021 and set new spending limits over the next two fiscal years, CQ reported.
The legislation passed on a 284-149 vote, sending it to the GOP-led Senate which is anticipated to take up the measure next week before adjourning for its August recess.
The bill, if passed by the Senate and signed into law by the White House, would add $324 billion in discretionary spending over the next two fiscal years and avoid approximately 10% mandatory cuts, or $125 billion, to federal agencies for the upcoming budget year starting Oct. 1.
Defense spending would face the greater majority of mandatory cuts, or sequestration, at $71 billion in decreased spending if a legislative stalemate were to persist, as On Base has previously reported.
Total defense discretionary spending would increase from $716 billion during the current fiscal year to $738 billion during fiscal 2020 and $740.5 billion in fiscal 2021, according to the report. Nondefense spending would increase from $605 billion during fiscal 2019, to $632 billion in the upcoming fiscal year and $634 billion in fiscal 2021.
The agreement includes $77.4 billion in offsets, a little more than half of the $150 billion in reductions the White House originally sought in negotiations.
Post-Leadership, McConnell Plans to Push for More Defense Funding
When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell steps down from his Senate leadership role after the November elections, he’ll have at least two more years in the Senate. Now he’s signaled one of his priorities as a rank-and-file Senator is to increase defense funding,...