Congress
House Republicans advance their budget after appeasing hard-liners
Score one for the backers of “one big, beautiful bill.”
House Republicans launched their budget plan out of committee Thursday night — the first legislative step toward fulfilling President Donald Trump’s policy agenda but at odds with the Senate’s continued pursuit of a “two-track” plan.
The House Budget Committee voted to approve a budget resolution along party lines, 21-16, after a marathon markup. In order to rally enough Republican support to push the measure over the finish line, GOP leaders placated fiscal conservatives by tweaking the blueprint that will ultimately allow them to pass a massive bill tackling tax cuts, border security, defense spending and energy policy — all while sidestepping the Senate filibuster.
“This budget resolution provides the fiscal framework for what will be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in modern history,” House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said, “and the principal legislative vehicle for delivering on President Trump’s ‘America first’ agenda.”
The changes to the budget resolution, if adopted by both chambers, would force Republicans to cut more spending in exchange for tax cuts. It could curtail their ability to deliver on Trump’s most prominent campaign-trail promises, like nixing taxes on tips, while also alienating swing-district Republicans uncomfortable with slashing safety net programs like SNAP food assistance to low-income households.
Democrats are already blasting it. “How can my colleagues across the aisle take money that is meant to put food on people’s tables and instead use that money so a CEO can deduct the cost of a private jet?” Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) said during the markup, calling the plan “a betrayal of the middle class.”
A floor vote on the fiscal blueprint is House GOP leaders’ next challenge in the arduous process of unlocking the filibuster-skirting power of reconciliation. The budget measure would allow the House’s tax panel to come up with tax cuts that increase the deficit by up to $4.5 trillion over a decade, while ordering other committees to cut enough from mandatory spending programs to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion.
“We do not have a revenue problem in the United States. We have a spending problem,” Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) said during the markup. “And House Republicans, with this budget resolution that we’ve crafted, are taking steps to try to get us on the right path.”
Because the budget resolution is just 45 pages long and only broadly outlines how much Republicans can grow or shrink the deficit in a final bill, Democrats won’t be able to sharpen their attacks on the party-line proposal until Republicans draft the actual package, which is expected to be hundreds of pages long, if not more than a thousand.
So on Thursday, Democrats on the Budget Committee spent more than seven hours peppering their GOP colleagues with amendments that would nix the committee orders included in the fiscal blueprint. They also branded the GOP plan “the Republican ripoff” and noted that it allows for a $3.3 trillion increase in the deficit over a decade.
“Just think about it. You talk about how bad the deficits are and then say: That’s why I’m voting for the bill that increases the deficit,” said Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, a member of the budget panel and also the top Democrat on the House Education Committee.
The panel defeated all 32 amendments Democrats offered, including several proposals aimed at stopping Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from slashing federal funding and accessing federal systems that contain sensitive information about Americans. Democrats also proposed amendments aimed at protecting funding for in-kind food assistance programs, Meals on Wheels and other initiatives funded through block grants to states for social services.
Of the two Republican amendments offered Thursday, both were adopted. One, the compromisethat won the House Freedom Caucus endorsement of the resolution, would shrink the amount of tax cuts Republicans can enact if they don’t cut $2 trillion in spending at the same time. The other would ensure Republicans include the text of the REINS Act in their final reconciliation bill. That measure, a perennial favorite of congressional Republicans, would curtail federal rule-making across government.
If House Republicans can adopt the budget resolution on the floor later this month, they stand to increase their clout in the ongoing debate with Senate GOP leaders over how to package their party-line ambitions.
Almost four weeks into Trump’s presidency, House Republicans are still demanding one whopping package that includes trillions of dollars worth of tax cuts, while Senate Republicans root for a plan that leaves tax cuts for later and first delivers border security, defense spending and energy policy. Even Trump’s top advisers and Cabinet officials remain divided.
In the Senate, Budget Chair Lindsey Graham of South Carolina sent a message to his House counterparts during his own budget markup this week: “I hope you will consider what we do if you cannot produce the one big, beautiful bill quickly.”
Graham’s budget, which would pave the way for one slimmer bill now and then another later, could come to the Senate floor as soon as next week. The House is due to schedule a vote on its proposal the last week of February.
If Republican leaders want to enact any major legislation without input from Democrats in the GOP’s first months with “trifecta” control in Washington, Republicans will need to quickly unite around one strategy. Neither chamber can advance a final package until both approve an identical budget measure to unlock the reconciliation power they need to skirt the Senate filibuster. Of course, both chambers also have to pass the same final bill to clear it for Trump’s signature.
Senate Budget Committee Republicans will meet Tuesday morning to talk about advancing a fiscal blueprint for a new party-line spending bill.
Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) declined to say , in an interview Monday if he plans to introduce a resolution this week, noting that he was “working with leadership” and that the “first priority” is to pass a stopgap spending bill. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a panel member, said he didn’t expect the Senate to take up a budget resolution this week because “I don’t think my leadership wants to do it.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t ruled out taking up a budget resolution but has been frank about the challenges it faces among GOP senators.
The Senate’s stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown on Oct. 1 has cleared the first procedural hurdle, putting it on track for passage before lawmakers leave for the August recess.
Senators voted 89-4 to advance the measure, which would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions.
In order for a passage vote to happen ahead of the summer break, Senate leaders will need to strike a bipartisan time agreement to fast-track the measure to a final vote.
“It is a strong bipartisan piece of legislation, and I hope it will receive overwhelming support from both parties in the Senate,” Majority Leader John Thune said in a Monday floor speech.
Senate passage would up a potential battle with the House, because the stopgap measure the House passed two weeks ago has key differences from the Senate version. Identical versions must be passed to actually avert a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year.
The Senate measure includes language to bar the Trump administration from putting into action a plan to make political appointees in charge of approving grants, a prohibition that would last for the length of the stopgap. It also has language sought by Democrats to ensure Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement don’t get any new funding under the patch.
“The bill allows us to continue negotiating a budget that won’t leave working families behind,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday.
The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment about if President Donald Trump supports the Senate measure. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), an appropriator and administration ally, said Monday he had spoken to Trump earlier in the day and believed the president is “comfortable” with the Senate bill.
Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought criminal charges against President Donald Trump, has been invited to testify Sept. 22 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to an invitation from Chair Chuck Grassley reviewed by Blue Light News.
Smith previously testified before the House Judiciary Committee in January, but Grassley (R-Iowa) and his team have been probing Smith and his investigations for months.
Grassley recently revealed that Smith obtained text messages that 44 members of Congress sent to White House officials during the waning months of Trump’s first term leading up to and around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Grassley’s texts were among those accessed by Smith’s team, along with Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
“In the process of a deeply flawed, weaponized investigation, Jack Smith subpoenaed phone toll records from a dozen senators, scooped up text messages from over 40 members of Congress, and subpoenaed the private communications and financial records of hundreds of other Republican entities and individuals,” Grassley said in a statement.
“He needs to answer directly to Congress for his actions,” Grassley added. “Smith has requested to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and our committee looks forward to hearing from him as part of Congress’ investigation into Arctic Frost and his time as Special Counsel. Smith must be honest and forthcoming in his answers, because the American people deserve nothing less than full transparency and accountability.”
Lawyers for Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the January hearing, Republicans focused on technicalities of how Smith investigated the probe into Trump’s election interference, such as whether he properly signed his oath of office and whether he was sufficiently versed on the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause that protects members of Congress from criminal investigation for their lawmaking actions.
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