Senate passes debt and spending deal to avert default

The Senate has voted 63-36 to pass a bill that would raise the debt limit and cap discretionary spending levels for two fiscal years, though senior lawmakers from both parties say there is bipartisan support for supplemental funding that could boost defense and non-defense budgets.

Senate passage of the bill now sends the measure to President Biden’s desk where it will be signed into law to avert default. The measure also funds total defense for fiscal year 2024 at $886 billion, with a 1% increase in 2025.

Senior Republicans, noting that the defense budget is not set to keep pace with inflation, said today they wanted a commitment from Senate Democrats that they would pass an emergency supplemental for Ukraine aid and other national security priorities.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the Senate floor before the vote that there is nothing in the bill that would "limit the Senate's ability to appropriate emergency supplemental funds to ensure our military capabilities are sufficient to deter China, Russia and our other adversaries."

He also noted the bill does not preclude supplemental spending on other “national issues” like disaster funding and counter-fentanyl activities.

"The Senate is not about to ignore our national needs, nor abandon our friends and allies who face urgent threats from America's most dangerous adversaries," Schumer said.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) said the bill, though it saves the government from potentially catastrophic debt default, cuts too deeply in several defense and non-defense areas. Murray said she is open to lessening “damage.”

“That can include working with the administration and my colleagues to consider a supplemental,” she said. “But 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 non-defense items that we should not let be shortchanged.”

Prior to final passage, the Senate voted down several amendments including one from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) that would have increased the defense spending caps in the deal by $73 billion and paid for it by cutting funds previously allocated to the Internal Revenue Service.