WASHINGTON, March 23 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement after voting aganst the budget deal:

“There are many positive initiatives in the Omnibus Appropriations bill reluctantly signed by the president today. As part of the Democratic Leadership I fought to provide the largest increase in child care funding in nearly 30 years, a major increase for the Social Security Administration, $2 billion for infrastructure improvement at the VA, funding for student debt relief, $3.3 billion to address the opioid and heroin epidemic and a significant increase for the low income housing tax credit – among other provisions which will help working people.

“Unfortunately, there are two fundamental failings in this deal that prevented me from voting for it. First, this bill does not address the great moral issue of our time – the fact that 800,000 young Dreamers in the DACA program are in grave danger of losing their legal status and subject to deportation. Second, the $165 billion increase in defense spending over two years is much too large. I believe in a strong military, but at a time when the U.S. spends more on defense than the next 12 countries combined, this increase is much too much.”