A House committee narrowly passed a measure to raise federal spending caps for the next two years, over the objections of Republicans and a faction of progressive Democrats.
Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., voted against the measure, which lifts federal spending above caps imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act. The trio opposed lifting caps on military spending.
Lawmakers approved the measure 19-17, setting up a House vote next week that could draw significant opposition from other progressives opposed to the increase in military spending.
The panel voted 26-7 to reject an amendment by Khanna that would have decreased the military cap to 2019 levels.
The resolution now headed to the floor would lift the current domestic spending limit by 5.7 percent, to $631 billion in fiscal 2020, and to $646 billion in fiscal 2021. The measure would raise defense spending by 2.6 percent over the current cap, to $664 billion, in 2020. Defense spending would be limited to $680 billion in fiscal 2021.
The plan does not adhere to President Trump’s proposed 2020 budget that provides an overall $750 billion in military spending while keeping domestic spending at the caps level of $542 billion.
Congress has voted four times to lift the caps, which, if imposed, require mandatory budget reductions known as sequestration.
“The need to raise the caps is immediate and is fundamental to the work of this Congress,” said Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky. “That is what we have accomplished with this bill. It protects our nation’s communities and American families from devastating cuts we face under sequestration and the president’s cruel and irresponsible budget proposal.”
Republicans voted no.
Rep. Bob Woodall, R-Ga., said Democrats failed to take up a full budget plan that would outline spending for the next decade. Lifting the budget caps, Woodall said, ignores the need for fiscal discipline the Budget Control Act was meant to impose.
“What we are doing today, laying out no fiscal vision, that is not a solution,” Woodall said.
