WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker John Boehner says the two-year budget deal that is headed for a House vote "isn't perfect by any means." But he says it's better than the alternative -- an increase in the debt limit without any entitlement reforms or money for troops.
The agreement would give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies $80 billion in relief from budget constraints, while there are cuts elsewhere.
Conservatives don't like it, but acknowledge they can't stop it. One House Republican critic, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, accuses Boehner of being "in league with the Democrats." But he also says he thinks conservatives are winning in the long run, since they have forced Boehner to resign.
The man who's in line to be the next speaker, Paul Ryan, isn't offering an opinion on the deal itself -- but says the "process stinks" and that it's "not the way to do the people's business." He says it won't be done that way "under new management."
