Senate GOP budget seeks $5T debt hike, boosts military and border enforcement
PHOTO CAPTION: Loren Elliott/File Photo/Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate Budget Committee released its budget blueprint for enacting President Donald Trump's tax cut agenda on Wednesday, with lawmakers saying they aimed to vote on the measure later this week.
The resolution calls for more than $2 trillion in non-defense spending cuts over 10 years and includes a $5 trillion increase on the borrowing limit for the $36.6 trillion U.S. debt.
It would also increase military spending by up to $150 billion over a decade and provides an additional $175 billion to fund Trump's border restrictions and deportation of immigrants who are in the country illegally.
"It is now time for the Senate to move forward with this budget resolution in order to further advance our shared Republican agenda in Congress," Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a statement.
Both the Senate and House of Representatives must pass a budget blueprint to unlock a parliamentary tool known as budget reconciliation, which would allow Republicans to enact underlying legislation later this year without support from Senate Democrats.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone, Leslie Adler and Chizu Nomiyama)
