WAPO: Senate Hails Bipartisan Budget Deal, But Pelosi Has Doubts
“Lawmakers described a deal that would keep the country from hitting the debt limit until after November’s midterm elections, typically a politically difficult vote for Republicans,” the Washington Post reports. “Top Senate leaders from both parties called the deal a breakthrough and a prelude to more cooperation between Republicans and Democrats.”
Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer unveiled a bipartisan budget deal today that would raise spending caps, fund disaster aid, and put the country on track for two years free from the theatrics of constant debt-ceiling brinksmanship. “I hope we can build on this bipartisan momentum and make 2018 a year of significant achievement for Congress,” McConnell told the Washington Post, while Schumer called it “the first real sprout of bipartisanship.” But if the deal has strong support in the Senate, it must first clear the House of Representatives where it faces an uncertain reception. Already, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi has said that she and a large number of Democrats will not support the bill without a clear resolution for Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who came here as children and who face deportation by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, staunch conservatives are bristling over the fact that the bill would add billions to the federal debt.
