The White House during the daily press briefing on Wednesday praised the two-year bipartisan spending deal reached by the Senate on Wednesday which increases domestic spending by $63 billion and military spending by $80 billion for 2018 with larger increases in 2019.
The bill eliminates mandatory spending caps on domestic and military spending, otherwise known as sequestration, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said have “hamstrung our armed forces and jeopardized our national security.”
“This deal achieves our top priority, a much-needed increase in funding for our national defense,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “This deal also increases budget caps, ends the sequester, and provides certainty for the next two years.”
“The bottom line is that, thanks to President Trump, we can have the strongest military we’ve ever had,” she said.
The Senate on Wednesday reached a long-term spending deal, a day ahead of the Feb. 8 deadline.
In addition to military funding, the measure would provide $6 billion for opioid treatment, $20 billion for infrastructure, and nearly $90 billion in disaster aid for victims of wildfires and hurricanes.
"The compromise we’ve reached will ensure for the first time in years our armed forces will have more of the resources they need to keep them safe," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said announcing the deal on the Senate floor.
"This budget deal will be the best thing we’ve done to our economy and our middle class in a long time," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech following McConnell.
The bill does not include a resolution for the DACA issue. Congress faces a fast-approaching Mar. 5 deadline to reach an agreement on immigration.
President Trump has made it clear that he will not be extending the deadline for DACA and his White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has said that Trump might not even have the authority to do so because the program is not based on law.
Watch the press briefing live below.
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