Deficit hawks slammed the budget agreement reached Wednesday between Senate Republican and Democratic leaders, calling it a “betrayal” and the “definition of irresponsibility.”
The deal announced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., would undo caps on defense and domestic spending set by the 2011 Budget Control Act, adding between $300 billion and $400 billion to federal spending over the next two years. Over the next decade, the deal likely would add about $1.5 trillion to the federal debt, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
“This deal represents budgeting at its worst — each party is giving the other its wish list with all the bells and whistles included and asking future generations to pick up the tab,” said Maya MacGuineas, the president of the group, which advocates for lower federal deficits.
MacGuineas’ group also criticized the $1.4 trillion tax cut passed by Republicans in November.
Conservative outside groups that have sway among Republicans also denounced Wednesday’s deal.
“While our nation's military was woefully underfunded by the previous administration, today's deal is fiscally irresponsible and creates serious long-term budget challenges,” said Michael Needham, chief executive of Heritage Action.
Five groups within the network of free-market organizations backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, including Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners, also joined to criticize the deal, calling it “a betrayal of American taxpayers and a display of the absolute unwillingness of members of Congress to adhere to any sort of responsible budgeting behavior.”
The budget caps were put in place as the result of negotiations between former President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans over raising the federal debt ceiling, when conservatives demanded spending cuts in return for raising the debt limit.
