After Senator Rand Paul forced the government into a temporary shutdown, the Senate approved a two-year budget deal on Friday, which would open the government for another six weeks and give more than $400 billion for defense and domestic spending.
According to Yahoo News, the Senate voted 71-to-28. While the government's ability to spend money was set to expire, there were not any immediate effects. Essential personnel would stay in operations. Paul push the final vote past the midnight deadline when funding ran out and the shutdown started.
Paul spoke out over the increased deficits and told everyone he would be willing to cause a shutdown.
This massive deal eliminates budget caps that were in place since 2011 and increases the defense budget by $165 billion and increased domestic spending by $131 billion over the next few years.
The deal includes disaster aid for Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico
Paul said he wanted to make people uncomfortable who were voting in support of the big deficits. The deal also includes $89 billion for disaster aid for hurricane ravished Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. The legislation has passed the Senate but now faces a tough battle in the House.
President Trump has called on Democrats and Republicans to back the Senate bill and even took to Twitter to say lawmakers must support our troops and this deal.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi is fighting to have the legislation include protections for Dreamers, which are set to expire in March. Several key Democrats oppose the Senate deal including the House Freedom Caucus because they say it would lead to more government spending.
Military at risk without funding
According to CNN, the House Freedom Caucus supports funding the military but not increasing the size of the government.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said he supports the bill and says we are risking the military with not having the funding. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis called on republicans to support the bill because it increases the military budget.
The budget deal is supposed to help with the opioid crisis, military strength, infrastructure, and veteran care.
Several top House Democrats sent a letter to Speaker Ryan begging him to make a public statement on scheduling a vote on immigration and DACA. The future of DACA and immigration legislation was unclear as Pelosi took the floor for eight hours and talked about DACA and immigration. Ryan has said he is willing to address the future of young immigrants but has not laid out an exact timeline.
