Senate leaders on Wednesday cut a two-year deal to lift strict budget caps on defense and domestic spending — but without addressing immigration reform.
The agreement was a victory for Republican defense hawks as well as Democrats seeking billions for infrastructure projects, hurricane aid and to combat the opioid epidemic.
“We have reached the budget deal that neither side loves but both sides can be proud of,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said of the agreement that adds $300 billion in spending.
But there was an immediate hurdle in the House.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said she would oppose the bill unless Speaker Paul Ryan promises to allow a vote on extending protections for Dreamers, immigrants brought to the US illegally as children.
She gave an impassioned, record eight-hour-plus speech on the House floor arguing for relief for the roughly 1.8 million Dreamers believed to be in the US — a figure that includes about 700,000 who registered for the program that protected them against deportation and more than a million who were eligible but did not sign up.
During the lengthy address, Pelosi’s voice quivered, she stumbled over her words and developed a case of the sniffles as she grew visibly tired.
“You see, these people are being deported,” she said, taking out a tissue.
“We can do something today to at least make whole the children. We have to be strong as a country . . . to respect the aspirations of people who are our future,” she said.
House conservatives had their own objections, slamming the deal for the massive increase in domestic spending.
“Bad, bad, bad agreement, and it’s also terrible,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
But lawmakers on both sides said there appeared to be enough support to avert a government shutdown Thursday at midnight.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Trump was happy that the Senate bill increased defense spending and that he would not demand that border security and immigration reform be included, as he had previously.
“We can get this budget deal done and then we can focus on getting immigration done,” she said.
Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) — who is being treated in Arizona for brain cancer — and House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) issued a joint statement strongly supporting the package.
“This budget agreement is indispensable for our national security,” the two Republicans said.
The limit on military spending would be increased by $80 billion in the current fiscal year and $85 billion in fiscal 2019, which begins Oct. 1.
The limit on nondefense spending would go up by $63 billion this year and $68 billion next year.
The Senate agreement also contains almost $70 billion in overdue disaster aid for hurricane-slammed Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.
It would increase the government’s borrowing cap to prevent a first-ever default on US obligations that looms in just a few weeks.
On Tuesday night, the House passed legislation to keep the government running through March 23, but the Senate plan would rewrite that measure, so now the House must vote again.
Senate Democratic leaders have dropped their strategy of using the funding fight to extract concessions on immigration, specifically on seeking extended protections for the Dreamers.
Instead, Schumer went with a deal that would reap tens of billions of dollars for other priorities while hoping to solve the immigration impasse later.
With Post Wires