U.S. House of Representatives Approves Two-Year Budget Deal

After a debate that lasted for one hour, the U.S. House of Representatives finally approved a two-year budget deal on Wednesday. The budget would boost spending, draw out the budget limit and provide a break from the fiscal disaster that has been plaguing Washington for a few years.

For the next two years, the federal government spending would be increased by around $80 billion, with the additional money to be shared by non-military and military programs. It would also extend the borrowing limit until March 2017 when the country gets a new head of state and a new Congress.

A bipartisan victory

The Democrats unanimously voted yes while the Republicans were quite divided, with 168 voting against it and only 79 giving the bill a nod. Eventually, the tally closed at 266 to 167. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader said they pushed hard to allow for economic stability and considered it a major victory for bipartisanship and the country’s working families.

Many representatives hailed the bill. For John Boehner (R-Ohio), the House Speaker, it was a proposal that showed fiscal responsibility. It would bring order back in the budget process in Washington and permit Congress to give new investments to domestic and military programs. The chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky) said it would roll back the damaging cuts to government programs.

Other Republicans were not in agreement, though. Some said that it was an 11th-hour agreement that gave a huge spending victory to the U.S. President and the Democrats in Congress. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said that the bill would bust the budget caps while Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) was more pessimistic, saying that it was a budget gimmick that would haunt lawmakers later, since people would be paying for it in the future.

Waiting for Senate approval

The deal was quietly negotiated with congressional leaders and the White House by Boehner before it was unveiled on Monday. It might be the last one that he would be handling as he’s resigning his position as speaker of the House and would be leaving Congress. The Senate would tackle the bill soon but approval could be announced by Monday yet. There could still be hurdles though. While Paul Ryan (R-Wis), the GOPbspeaker nominee said he will fully support the bill, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky), a presidential candidate, had promised that he would filibuster the measure.

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