Only one Ohio lawmaker opposed a bipartisan deal to avoid federal government default

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance voted Thursday against a bipartisan agreement to raise the nation's debt limit, making him the only Ohio lawmaker to oppose the plan as the federal government risked default.

The legislation now heads to President Joe Biden's desk, just days before Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government would run out of money. The U.S. Treasury borrows money to pay its bills and reached the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling earlier this year.

The final deal suspends the debt limit on how much the government can borrow until Jan. 2, 2025, and includes an array of spending cuts. But Ohio's junior senator argued it didn't go far enough to rein in government spending.

"We're not going to get the spending cuts," Vance told Newsmax on Thursday. "What we’re going to get is a reduced military in the face of a rising threat from China. It's a bad deal all around for the American people."

The agreement keeps nondefense discretionary spending – which does not include Social Security and Medicare – roughly flat for 2024 and raises it by 1% in 2025. It also rescinds unspent COVID-19 relief money and reallocates billions of dollars initially intended for the IRS to improve customer service and crack down on tax cheats.

The package faced opposition from conservatives like Vance, along with liberal Democrats who blasted the spending limits and a provision that expands work requirements for food stamps. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, supported it, although he too had expressed concern about the changes to food stamps.

The legislation increases SNAP's age limit for work requirements on adults without dependents from 49 to 54. But it also enables more people to get food assistance without work, including veterans and people experiencing homelessness.

"Tonight we came together to prevent a national default that would have been catastrophic, costing Ohioans their jobs and life savings, and threatening our entire economy," Brown said in a statement. "This is a bipartisan solution to avoid an economic disaster, while protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, veterans' benefits, and other lifelines that Ohioans earn and rely on."

Vance's vote was a stark contrast to Ohio Republicans in the U.S. House, who came together with Democrats in the delegation to support the deal. U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, was instrumental to negotiations and urged members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus to get on board, Politico reported.

"In the past decade, the debt ceiling has been raised nine times," Jordan said earlier this week. "None of those debt ceiling increases lowered spending year-to-year. This is the first one to do so."

USA TODAY contributed to this report.

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.