Trump Has Signed Budget and Debt-Limit Legislation, White House Says

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump signed legislation Friday increasing U.S. borrowing authority until after next year’s election and authorizing additional government spending, a bipartisan deal denounced by some members of his party who said it would worsen yearly budget deficits.

Earlier this week, Trump encouraged Republican lawmakers to support the deal, brokered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The measure passed the Senate by a 67-28 margin, after the House voted 284-149 last week to support the legislation. A White House spokesman said Friday that Trump had signed it.

The measure suspends the U.S. debt limit through July 31, 2021, eliminating the risk of a default until then. It also sets budget caps for two years that will permit $324 billion in additional domestic and defense spending above current spending cap levels.

Congress will still need to pass spending bills in September adhering to the new $1.3 trillion spending cap to avoid a government shutdown when the next fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Because the Senate hasn’t written any of the 12 spending bills, a short-term measure extending current funding is likely for at least some government agencies.

Both parties have promised not to insist on “poison pill” provisions in the spending bills, referring to measures that would be a deal-breaker for one party.

A dispute over funding Trump’s border wall led to a 35-day government shutdown at the beginning of this year. Trump ultimately signed bills without the full amount he sought for the wall and invoked executive authority to take the money from military accounts instead.

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net;Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo

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