House and Senate committees move forward on dueling budget plans

Washington — House and Senate Republicans are racing to keep pace on competing budget proposals to enact President Trump’s top priorities, with committees in both chambers voting to advance their respective plans this week.

The House Budget Committee marked up its resolution on Thursday, one day after the Senate Budget Committee did the same. The House is pursuing one massive package, while the Senate plans to divide its work into two.

But the chambers will have to approve identical budget resolutions to move forward with the reconciliation process, which allows them to avoid the 60-vote threshold typically required in the Senate. Going that route would allow Republicans to pass the legislation without any Democratic support. Under budget reconciliation, the package may only include provisions dealing with taxes, spending or the debt limit. And any new spending must be paid for. 

The Senate’s resolution could come to the floor as early as next week. The House will be away on recess and plans to bring its own resolution when the lower chamber returns the following week. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has repeatedly insisted that the House take the lead on the reconciliation process, told reporters Thursday that “there’s a lot of discussion and debate and deliberation ahead of us.” Still, he called the markup the “necessary first start to get it going.”



“We have a very diverse conference and we have to get everybody onboard,” the Louisiana Republican said. 

What’s in the House GOP proposal 

House Republicans have been at odds with their Senate colleagues, preferring to pass one major border and defense bill that also includes up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. 

The House resolution calls for at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts and instructs more than a handful of committees to find ways to reduce the deficit, while increasing spending for several other issue areas. 

In a deal with conservatives, the House Budget Committee agreed to amend the budget resolution Thursday to secure the tax cut threshold. Under the agreement, if House committees don’t achieve at least $2 trillion in spending cuts, then tax cuts would be lower than the proposed $4.5 trillion. But if they slash more than $2 trillion, tax cuts would be increased. 

The panels tasked with finding the steepest cuts are the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is instructed to propose at least $880 billion in cuts; the Education and Workforce Committee, with at least $330 billion; and the Agriculture Committee, with a minimum of $230 billion. 

The resolution instructs the Judiciary Committee to propose up to $110 billion in additional spending, while the Armed Services Committee could propose $100 billion in new spending. The Homeland Security Committee would be allotted $90 billion. 

What’s in the Senate GOP plan

On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Republicans have backed a two-bill strategy. The first is focused on border security, defense and energy priorities, while the second would include an extension of the tax cuts enacted during Mr. Trump’s first term. 

The Senate’s first resolution would direct the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee to each propose no more than $175 billion in additional spending. The Armed Services Committee could propose $150 billion in new spending, while the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee would be allotted $20 billion and the Environment and Public Works Committee $1 billion. 

Several other committees would be instructed to find at least $1 billion in cuts. 

The resolution would increase annual spending by $85.5 billion, which would be paid for by the same amount in spending cuts, according to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who leads the Senate Budget Committee. 

Graham said Wednesday during debate on the upper chamber’s proposal that he’s “pulling for one big, beautiful bill, but there’s a sense of urgency” in approving immigration-related funding. 

“I hope you will consider what we do if you cannot produce the one big, beautiful bill quickly,” Graham said. 

House Freedom Caucus gets onboard

The House Freedom Caucus, a conservative faction that has been a thorn in the side of Republican leaders, unveiled its own two-step plan on Monday as the House faced repeated delays in releasing its package. But Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, who leads the House Freedom Caucus, told reporters Thursday that with the amendment in place tying tax cuts to spending cuts, he expects members will support the budget resolution. 

GOP Reps. Ralph Norman of South Dakota and Chip Roy of Texas, two House Freedom Caucus members who were seen as potential roadblocks on the budget panel, came out in favor of the proposal during Thursday’s hearing. 

“This budget put forward by the chairman is a giant step forward to reduce spending,” Roy said. “I believe that it is responsible, and I believe it is a balance of what we’re supposed to do.” 

Harris outlined that the agreement will “allow the flexibility to actually bring the tax cuts even higher” if there’s more spending cuts. In terms of where to find the cuts, Harris wouldn’t point to specifics, deferring to the committees on where to find savings. 

The House GOP’s estimates project an increase of $2.5 trillion in revenues due to economic growth sparked by the trillions in tax cuts. Harris called that a “conservative” estimate and said that “when it all balances out, we believe that … it’s actually going to result in deficit reduction.”

Asked whether the Freedom Caucus was still planning to release its own tax package, Harris said, “No, this is it.”

“We declare victory,” Harris said, noting that the group was aiming for meaningful deficit reduction, and the ability to advance Mr. Trump’s tax policy. “We don’t need another bill.”

Meanwhile, Democrats have hammered the Republican blueprints, questioning how the proposals will help everyday Americans struggling with the high cost of living. 

“Republicans in the House and Senate have shown no interest in making life better for everyday Americans, because it’s all about tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York told reporters Wednesday. “The Republicans with their budget have betrayed the middle class.” 

contributed to this report.