Graham signals opposition to debt deal over defense spending: ‘Stay tuned’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday signaled he could oppose the debt ceiling agreement in principle that President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) say they’ve reached over concerns about defense spending.

“I understand compromise but I don’t understand putting our defense capabilities at serious risk in the name of compromise,” Graham said in a Tweet thread. “The 2011 budget deal was a disaster for our nation’s defense. I have fears this proposal is shaping up to be even worse. Stay tuned.”

The senator raised concerns about how the proposal could impact the Navy and aid to Ukraine.

“From a defense perspective, we have compromised our national security for marginal changes on the non-defense side. I will oppose if my concerns prove to be borne out,” he said.

Graham had said earlier on “Fox News Sunday” that adopting “the Biden defense budget” would be a “joke.”

“I want to raise the debt ceiling; it would be irresponsible not to do it. I want to control spending, I’d like to have a smaller IRS, I’d like to clawback the unused COVID money. And I know you can’t get to perfect, but what I will not do is adopt the Biden defense budget and call it as success,” Graham said on the program.

The South Carolina senator’s comments come after Biden and McCarthy said Saturday that weeks of tense negotiations had culminated in an agreement in principle to raise the debt ceiling for two years, with new caps on federal spending in that same period. It would freeze nondefense spending for 2024 and change work requirements for social benefit programs, among other things.

Graham on Fox News and on Twitter pushed back on McCarthy’s claim that the nation’s defense is fully funded.

“The idea a Reagan Republican would consider Biden’s defense budget as ‘fully funding defense’ is hard to comprehend,” he wrote.

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