The House Budget Committee advanced the budget resolution after Thursday's marathon meeting, clearing the first hurdles of the GOP meeting efforts to pass President Trump's legislative agenda.
The panel approved the budget resolution with a 21-16 vote from party lineage and sent it to all rooms for consideration. It remains unknown that speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) plans to bring the measure to the floor. The house is off session next week and is scheduled to return to Washington on February 24th.
The passing of the budget resolution marks an important step in the House GOP's quest to prioritize Trump's domestic policy in one vast bill. Republicans are trying to capitalize on the budget settlement process that will allow the party to avoid democratic opposition in the Senate.
“This budget resolution provides a financial framework for what is one of the most consequential legislation in modern history and the key legislative measures to deliver to President Trump's first American agenda,” the House of Representatives said. said Yoday Allington (R-Texas), chairman of the Budget Committee. in his opening statement at Thursday's meeting.
The successful committee vote came after a few days of log jams. Hard-handed conservatives demand deeper spending cuts, leadership has blown away many voluntary deadlines and repeat some suggestions before landing on what advanced on Thursday.
The resolution outlines the $1.5 trillion floor for spending cuts on committees across the board on the impact of Republican plans to extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts. . Additionally, debt limits will increase by $4 trillion.
But the blueprint wasn't an immediate victory. Many hardline conservatives on the Budget Committee withheld support from the measure, demanding various commitments such as spending cuts, rollbacks of energy subsidies, and future budget processes.
The breakthrough came Thursday morning, just before the meeting began, when conservatives and House GOP leadership struck an agreement on an amendment that eased the unrest of hardliners. The committee approved the amendment during the party's line 21-16 vote markup after voting more than two dozen Democratic-led amendment votes in protest of the resolution.
Republicans also adopted amendments to ensure that the Scrutiny Act (Reins) Act (Reins) Act will be included in the final settlement bill. Law, that Republicans passed in June 2023aims to increase Congressional power over the federal rulemaking process. Rep. Ralph Norman (Rs.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, who sits on the Budget Committee, had expressed his desire to include the bill in the measure.
However, some mines remain on the path forward. The house must now pass the resolution on the house floor. This becomes a heavy lift as GOP lawmakers are working on a thin majority of razors. If all Democrats vote for the expected NO, Republicans will lose one vote and still be able to clear the measure.
Also, the lower room must be compromised with the Senate. In the Senate, the Budget Committee has put forward a contrasting budget resolution to itself this week. Senate Republicans are using a two-track settlement strategy, while House members are pushing for a single bill.
And once both rooms agree to the strategy, Republicans must write the Trump agenda law within the direction set forth in the budget resolution. This is a process with a troublesome history.
The House Budget Committee cleared the budget resolution after a few hours of meetings in which the group considered more than 20 Democratic-led amendments in which the group attempted to attack or change some parts of the measure. They were all voted, but the exhibit served as a democratic protest for the vast Trump agenda measures.
“Let's be clear. This plan is a betrayal of middle-class Republicans,” Senator Brendan Boyle (Pa.), a top Democrat on the Budget Committee, said in an opening statement during his markup. “It doesn't support hardworking Americans, it undermines them. Instead of investing in working families, House Republicans need to give to billionaire donors from working Americans. I drafted a plan.”
However, the group has approved an amendment to the Manager, a link pin, to ensure sufficient support to advance budget resolution. In this language, MP Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), chairman of the Budget Committee, will increase the impact cap on the tax portion of the settlement package if additional spending reductions are made in other areas. You can do it.
It also gives teeth to the $2 trillion deficit reduction target outlined in a bill that is important for the Finance Hawks.
For example, if the committee finds a $2.5 trillion cut, then the deficit reduction floorset is a $2 trillion target of $1.5 trillion, so Arrington raises the deficit increase allowance from $4.5 trillion to $5 trillion It enables methods and means to design methods and means. The committee is more flexible in dealing with Trump's demands for tax cuts.
Importantly, the amendment also requires that the tax chair reduce the increase in the deficit in the tax portion. If you haven't reached that $2 trillion target, that means tax cuts and other prioritization allowances will be reduced.
Budget Hawks, including Andy Harris (R-Md.) of House Freedom Caucus Chair, praised the language.
“It's this. We declare victory,” Harris said. “So there's a bill that we believe must be done quickly to get border funds from the president as soon as possible. We believe it had a meaningful deficit reduction, and the president's tax policy. I believe we have to be able to move forward. It all happens here.”
Updated at 10:53pm EST.
