Graham blasts defense spending in debt ceiling deal as ‘a joke’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) took aim at the defense spending proposed in the debt ceiling deal, saying on Sunday that adopting what he labeled as President Biden’s defense budget would be a “joke.”

“I want to raise the debt ceiling, it would be irresponsible not to do it,” Graham told Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.” “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’s comments comes despite a deal with Biden being struck by fellow Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) who came to an agreement in principle late Saturday to raise the debt ceiling for two years and apply new caps on federal spending. Graham pushed back on McCarthy saying that the defense is fully funded, reiterating that he will give Congress a “hard time” if they send the proposed defense budget to the Senate.

“So the Biden defense budget was a joke before and if we adopted it as Republicans will be doing a great disservice to the party of Ronald Reagan. The biggest winner of the Biden defense budget is China,” he said.

He added that he wants to raise the debt ceiling, but not at the expense of the military. He said that he will not be “intimidated” by June 5, the deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to avoid a national default.

“We should raise the debt ceiling but we should not cripple the military’s ability to defend the nation as a trade off, spending below inflation is not fully funding the military,” he continued.