Washington Should Reject a Budget-Busting Cap Deal

For Immediate Release

Congressional leaders and Administration officials are negotiating an agreement to raise the discretionary spending caps while increasing the debt ceiling. The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:

Any deal to increase spending caps without offsets should be a non-starter. Extending last year’s budget-busting cap increases could add more than $2 trillion in debt over the next decade at a time when debt is already projected to rise to historic highs.

Just 14 months ago, President Trump declared he would "never sign another bill like this again" after approving an omnibus spending bill codifying huge increases in non-defense and defense discretionary spending.

Now is not the time for the President to reverse course and agree to increase discretionary spending to record levels. Nor is it the time for Congress to abandon all semblance of fiscal responsibility in favor of political expediency. 

Any budget caps deal should either be fully paid-for or else rejected outright. If negotiators reach agreement on a deal that explodes the debt, they should rip it up and go back to the drawing board.

###

For more information contact Patrick Newton, press secretary, at newton@crfb.org.