The House passed a massive budget and debt ceiling deal Thursday, but a majority of Republican lawmakers voted against it.
Democrats provided most of the support needed to win House approval and send the measure to the Senate where it is slated for consideration next week.
In the 284-149 vote, only 65 Republicans voted for the measure, while 132 voted against it. Many said the measure does nothing to rein in spending now or in the future and will contribute to the nation’s exploding deficit and debt.
They voted “no” despite President Trump’s approval of the deal and subsequent urging on twitter that the GOP back the plan.
“House Republicans should support the TWO YEAR BUDGET AGREEMENT which greatly helps our Military and our Vets. I am totally with you!” Trump tweeted Thursday.
Just 16 Democrats voted against the bill, which provides a 4.5% increase in domestic spending.
The agreement suspends the debt ceiling through July 31, 2021 and bolsters federal spending beyond the caps by $320 billion over the next two years.
Many of the GOP “no” votes were cast by members of the House Freedom Caucus and Republican Study Committee, which are two factions comprised dozens of fiscal conservatives.
The RSC chairman, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, called the measure “a massive spending deal that will further indebt future generations and remove reasonable safeguards to prevent the growth of government and the misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Johnson told the Washington Examiner he personally urged Trump to hold out for more robust spending cuts, but in the end, the deal required just $77 billion in offsets, or 23% of the caps increase and half of what the Trump administration was seeking.
The measure also allows the expiration of the 2011 Budget Control Act, which is the legislation mandating the annual caps.
Lawmakers like Johnson were left frustrated by the party’s support for a massive spending measure that lacked any fiscal brakes.
“It’s a violation of our core principles,” Johnson told the Washington Examiner. “It’s a violation of the Republican Party platform. It goes against everything conservatives ostensibly stand for. Yet, it continues to happen.”
Republican leaders held their noses and backed the deal.
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, complained about the lack of offsets, blaming Democrats.
But the measure, he argued ahead of the vote, “secures important policy victories no conservative can and should miss.”
Democrats, he said, have pledged to leave out “poison pill” language in spending bills that would permit taxpayer funding of abortions for example.
McCarthy reminded conservatives that the measure bolsters military funding to $738 billion, a 3% increase.
The measure now heads to the Senate, where Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has pledged a vote before the end of next week.
McConnell said he’ll back the measure while at the same time distancing himself from the terms, calling it “The Administration-Pelosi budget deal.”
Some Senate Republicans are already lining up against it, including Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Ted Cruz of Texas.
Rep. Steve Womack, R-Arkansas, the top Republican on the House Budget committee, who voted for the compromise, said he planned to explain his vote to constituents by showing them that Medicare, Medicaid, and other mandatory spending budgets, are the true drivers of spending growth compared to the rest of the proposed $1.3 trillion federal spending proposal.
“I’m about to go back there for the August recess,” Womack said. “I know this subject is going to come up. I already know people are going to say you guys have a spending problem up there in Washington.”
Womack urged Congress to begin tackling the growth of entitlements like Medicaid and said he hoped the budget deal would inspire the two parties to work together on mandatory spending reforms.
In the meantime, Womack said of the painful budget vote, “Let’s put this behind us and move on.”
Rep. Tom Massie, R-Kentucky, one of the most fiscally conservative members of Congress, stood up after the measure passed and called for a vote to amend the title of the measure to “A bill to kick the can down the road and for other purposes.”
