Washington: The debt ceiling agreement negotiated between House Republican leaders and the White House would cap the defence budget topline at President Joe Biden’s $886 billion request for fiscal 2024, a 3.3% increase over this year.
It would also cut non-defence spending to $704 billion. The compromise legislation comes after weeks of negotiations between the Biden administration and House Republicans, who demanded non-defence spending cuts and several other concessions in order to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a US default.
“We cut spending year-over-year for the first time in over a decade while fully funding national defence and veterans’ health benefits,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, said in a statement upon introducing the compromise bill.
While the agreement grows the defence topline to Biden’s proposed $886 billion, numerous Republican defence hawks in Congress have already lambasted that proposal as “inadequate” for not keeping pace with inflation. In March, when the budget request was released, they pushed for a 3% to 5% increase over inflation.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, speaking on Fox News after details first emerged, said the deal “increases defence spending below inflation.”
“The Biden defence budget was a joke before, and if we adopt it as Republicans, we will be doing a big disservice to the party of Ronald Reagan,” said Graham. “I like Kevin [McCarthy] a lot, but don’t tell me that the Biden defence budget fully funds the military.”
The bill also authorises a 1% increase for both defence and non-defence spending in FY25. That would put the FY25 defence spending topline at $895 billion. If Congress does not pass all 12 appropriations bills by the end of December, the debt deal mandates a full-year continuing resolution to fund the government with a 1% budget cut that would apply to defence and non-defence spending alike.
The House and Senate are expected to vote on the legislation later this week. The Treasury Department has said it expects to run out of money to pay its bills by June 5. If Congress does not raise the debt ceiling by that date, the government may have to suspend payments to troops, veterans and defence contractors.
