McCarthy and House Republicans were pushing cuts the Biden
administration could not accept, the White House said in a
statement on Monday.
"The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 4366,
making appropriations for military construction, the Department
of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year
(FY) ending September 30, 2024 and for other purposes," the
White House said.
"If the President were presented with H.R. 4366, he would veto
it."
On a separate agriculture and health spending bill which Biden
also threatens to veto, the White House said the legislation
included provisions that would have "devastating consequences"
like cutting access to reproductive healthcare, cutting climate
change initiatives and curtailing the safety of the LGBT
community.
Last month, the Democratic president signed a bipartisan deal
after excruciating negotiations with McCarthy that narrowly
averted a crisis that threatened to send the United States into
an unprecedented default and economic crisis.
This year's bipartisan debt ceiling deal keeps fiscal 2024
spending flat at this year's levels, allowing a 1% increase for
fiscal 2025. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office
estimates that the deal will cut deficits by about $1.5 trillion
over a decade from its current-law baseline forecast.
The deal was approved by 149 House Republicans - a strong party
majority - along with 165 Democrats. Forty-six Democrats, mostly
progressives, spoke out against the deal, saying it enforced
stringent work requirements on poor families who receive food
assistance or monetary aid and others who face obstacles to
employment.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Jon Boyle
and Jonathan Oatis)
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