Some Republicans were calling last week for a supplemental defense bill because the debt limit bill only increased military spending by 3.2%, but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) quickly nixed the idea of more spending, even on defense.

"Why do you move to a supplemental when we just passed [an agreement]?" the speaker told reporters. "If the idea of the supplemental is to go around the agreement we just came to, I think we've got to walk through appropriations."

McCarthy instead endorsed Defense Department reforms, where wasteful spending could be curbed and eliminated.

"There's a lot of places for reform where we can have a lot of savings," McCarthy said.

What will happen?

Some Republicans voted against the debt limit agreement bill because military spending did not keep pace with inflation, which they considered a cut.

They were also upset that the defense budget could be cut 1% if agreement is not reached in Congress after this year on a budget.

Not being able to agree on a budget is common; Congress has not done it as intended since 1996.

Both sides somewhat unhappy

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) led the opposition, but with Democrat support, the bill passed anyway.

Neither side was entirely happy with the compromise, but that's usually how it is with compromises.

At any rate, we won't default on our already crippling debt, as long as someone (China?) lets us keep borrowing the extra trillions we need to keep paying it while paying our other bills.

Never mind that someday it's going to be time to pay the piper, as they say. Just keep kicking the can down the road until it turns into a ditch where the economy can flip over and finally die.

Not what the Founders intended

Of course, we've got to keep the military going and make sure we are ready to answer any threats with the strength the rest of the world has gotten used to.

But other than that, the Founding Fathers would be turning over in their graves to see how much the federal government has expanded and how much we are paying to other countries, illegal immigrants, and our own poor to assuage our guilt or some such ridiculous reason.

There was no national income tax in the U.S. until 1913, just contributions from the states for federal defense and administration. Our system now is exactly what they wanted to avoid, but all good things must eventually end, and the U.S., sadly, will be no different the way we're going.