By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves praises the debt ceiling deal and defends Speaker Kevin McCarthy against fellow Republicans who claim it didn’t go far enough.
Graves calls it a good bill and a step in the right direction.
“It’s the largest spending cut in our nation’s history,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “It also rescinds the IRS funding. It makes work requirements for folks that are receiving welfare. It caps discretionary spending.”
The deal brokered by McCarthy and Democratic President Joe Biden cleared the House on a 314-to-117 vote with more Democrats voting for it than Republicans. It passed the Senate on a 63-36 vote.
Graves says that as for Republican criticism of the deal, it doesn’t take into account that Republicans control only the House with Democrats in control of the Senate and the White House.
“If you remember, the president said in the beginning he absolutely would not negotiate; he’s not going to negotiate,” Graves says. “And then, here we are with one of the best bills in terms of spending cuts that this nation has ever seen.”
Graves says now that the debt ceiling negotiations have been completed, it is time for the House to shape a budget that eliminates even more spending.
“The fact that we were able to get everything that we were trying to get I think is a huge win; just an absolute huge win for us. And we’ll continue down this process,” Graves says. “So, this is just negotiating the budget. Then we come back with the appropriations bills and will continue to negotiate further cuts in spending. So, I think it’s a huge win.”
The bill calls for the return of $28 billion in unspent COVID-related funding, strengthens welfare work requirements, and cuts $80 billion sought by President Biden to add 20,000 IRS agents.
Graves points out negotiations took defense spending off the table.
“We have to have a strong defense. We have to continue to have a strong defense,” Graves says. “And one of the things that the president was looking to cut dramatically was our defense budget. And it’s vitally important, particularly given the unrest that’s around the world today, we have to have a strong defense budget. So, it’s not going to be affected.”
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