The budget deal that House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) cut with Senate Budget Committee chairwoman Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) is set to clear the Senate, The New York Times reports.
“Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, announced his support for the measure on Monday, appearing to give it the 60 votes it would need to overcome a filibuster threat and bring it to a final vote, which would need only a majority,” the Times‘ Jonathan Weisman wrote Monday. “Mr. Hatch joined Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona, Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, all Republicans who have said they will vote to cut off debate.”
According to the Times, Hatch said he would support it even though he did not agree with the details of the plan. “This agreement isn’t everything I’d hoped it would be, and it isn’t what I would have written,” Hatch said. “But sometimes the answer has to be yes. The reality is that Republicans only control one-half of one-third of government.”
With six GOP senators–Hatch, McCain, Flake, Burr, Collins and Johnson–saying they will vote for cloture on the deal in the Senate, a potential procedural filibuster now is all but certain to fail unless several Democrats break from their party to oppose the deal. At this point, not one Senate Democrat has expressed disappointment with the budget deal.
After the deal passes the Senate, it will go to President Barack Obama for his signature. He is expected to sign it into law.