House Republicans advanced their $95 billion budget resolution out of the House Budget Committee Thursday afternoon on a party-line 20-14 vote, a first legislative step toward clearing a GOP-only reconciliation package they hope to pass before the August recess.
Republicans had released a fiscal blueprint Wednesday morning for the $95 billion party-line funding package that leaders say they hope to move later this summer.
The budget blueprint would allow up to $73 billion for military and intelligence programs, $12 billion for farm assistance and $10 billion for election-related matters, including grants that could be used to incentivize strict voter-ID laws; the $73 billion breaks into roughly $60 billion for defense and $13 billion for intelligence, with some defense money targeted to the war in Iran and some to service member pay.
Committee Republicans defeated all 14 Democratic amendments offered during markup, including proposals to roll back cuts to nutrition assistance programs energy programs and student loan limits, language barring taxpayer dollars for participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and measures to bar funding for the White House ballroom and to strike down tariffs affecting agriculture producers.
Budget Chair Jodey Arrington sought to allay concerns about the absence of offsets by pointing to executive-branch efforts to find savings, saying, "He declared war on fraud." Vice President JD Vance also told House Republicans his White House task force on fraud is finding savings to offset spending, but some fiscal hawks remained unconvinced.
Some budget hawks including Reps. Ralph Norman and Andrew Clyde voted to advance the resolution; Rep. Chip Roy did not vote, as his home state of Texas dealt with flooding. Ranking member Brendan Boyle said the nearly 50-page document contained "Not one word on bringing down costs for the American people. Not one word."
Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to put the resolution on the House floor next week but will need a serious whip operation to persuade deficit hawks to support it, and Senate Republicans have expressed skepticism about taking up the House plan before they leave in early August.
If the budget resolution is adopted by both chambers it would unlock a third reconciliation bill this Congress following last year's "big, beautiful bill" and an immigration enforcement funding package passed last month, with committees expected to work on bill text over the August recess and bring the whole package back to the floor in the fall.
Separately, Johnson said he plans to hold a House vote next on a stopgap spending measure that would likely fund the government through the November midterm elections, and he has been privately trying to convince President Donald Trump to back the stopgap, according to people familiar with private conversations.
Many House Republicans are demanding that any must-pass bill include the SAVE America Act, and Johnson said, "Well, we haven't decided all that yet. The SAVE America Act is the No. 1 priority for us, and we're going to attach it to everything that makes sense. So we'll have to see."
Sen. Brian Schatz said it made sense to punt funding until after the election, calling it the "adult thing," a position that could affect how the stopgap and the House reconciliation push interact in the coming weeks.