Passed last week in a 284-149 vote in the House, split heavily along party lines, the two-year compromise budget deal reached between President Trump and Democratic leadership has passed the Senate Thursday, 67-28.



The $2.78 trillion ($1.48 trillion military spending) measure lifts the cap on the size of the US debt. This is an increase over the already-passed NDAA for 2020, and military spending will now outpace the entire rest of discretionary spending.



Since the expansion of the debt amounts to spending more money that the government flat out doesn’t have, this legislation also authorizes the Treasury Department to issue more debt in the form of bonds to raise money to cover the difference.



This compromise being between Trump and the Democrats, the Senate bill passed heavily on Senate Democrats’ support, while the vote among Senate Republicans was 30-23, with many objecting to the growing debt.



Despite debt concerns, Republican hawks broadly voted in favor of this bill, because it was a spending increase, and as Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that’s the “number one priority” for Republicans. Even then, a number of them were grousing about the fact that the spending on the military could’ve conceivably been even higher.

Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz