The bipartisan budget deal picked up an important supporter Monday as Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he'd back the plan.
The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on cutting off debate. Sixty votes are needed. Democrats control 55 of the 100 seats, so if all Democrats back the limits, five Republicans are still needed.
Hatch joins Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., among Republicans supporting the proposal.
" This agreement isn’t everything I’d hoped it would be, and it isn’t what I would have written. But sometimes the answer has to be yes," Hatch said.
"The reality is that Republicans only control one-half of one-third of government. Ultimately, this agreement upholds the principles conservatives stand for and, with Democrats controlling the White House and the Senate, it is the best we could hope for."
He said he hoped "that this budget agreement paves the way to greater stability, lasting deficit reduction, and the political will to tackle those challenges in the near future.”