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COLUMBIA, MO. -- Missouri 9th District Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer said Friday’s 11th hour budget deal does nothing more than fund the federal government until the end of September.

Luetkemeyer said Republicans in Congress are trying to lower the nation’s funding, debt and spending to try and get the national deficit under control.

There have been a total of more than $79 billion in cuts since the Republicans took over the House of Representatives after the November election.

Luetkemeyer said, “I think that’s a pretty good start.  It’s not as far as some people would like to go, but we’re getting everybody to start talking about cutting spending now instead of trying to spend more.  I think that’s a dramatic turn around.  That’s the direction that we need to go.”

After a government shutdown was avoided late Friday, President Obama claimed victory because Congress was able to settle its differences on the budget.