Biden will veto House military, health and agriculture spending bills

President Biden will veto House Republicans’ defense and health and agriculture bills if make it to his desk, the White House said Monday.

The White House said the reason for spiking the spending bills was that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has reneged on the debt limit deal with Mr. Biden.

In separate statements of administration policy, the White House said the military construction and health and agriculture spending bills contain deeper cuts than were agreed upon earlier this year.

The White House accused Republicans of “wasting time with partisan bills that cut domestic spending to levels below the [debt ceiling] agreement and endanger critical services for the American people.”

“These levels would result in deep cuts to climate change and clean energy programs, essential nutrition services, law enforcement, consumer safety, education, and health care,” said the statement on the health and agriculture bill.

The statement on the military construction bill said essentially the same thing.

The White House argued that the proposals would result in cuts to Mr. Biden’s signature tax, climate, and health law known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

As the White House sees it, the bills would limit access to abortion, threaten the safety of LGTBQ Americans, roll back climate change initiatives, and prevent the administration from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

Lawmakers this week are expected to debate the military construction and agriculture appropriations bills.

In May, the White House and Republican leaders struck a deal that included lifting the debt ceiling to avoid the U.S. potentially defaulting on its debts. The deal included an agreement to return nondefense discretionary spending to fiscal 2022 levels while limiting federal spending to 1% annual growth for six years.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the deal will cut deficits by roughly $1.5 trillion over the next decade from its current baseline forecast.