WASHINGTON – House Republicans on Tuesday began planning a third-party spending bill, unveiling a budget resolution calling for $90 billion in new funding for military and election-related measures.
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There is no plan to win Democratic votes, but it will be a tough sell through the narrow Republican majority given the unpopularity of the Iran war, the lack of spending cuts to offset new spending that has already angered conservative hardliners, and the limitations of the budget process.
The 47-page bill is the first step in a “reconciliation” process that allows Republicans to bypass the Senate filibuster and pass legislation without Democratic support. The document released Wednesday includes instructions for the committee on how much to spend on the project when crafting a final settlement bill.
That includes $60 billion for military committees that will go towards military spending as President Donald Trump’s Iran war rages on with no end in sight.
The funding includes $12 billion for the Agriculture Commission, which will be used to support agriculture as the industry suffers from soaring food and fertilizer prices due to the Iran war and the inability of ships to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz.
The measure would give the House Administration Committee $10 billion to use for election-related funding as Republicans look for ways to incorporate elements of President Trump’s Save America Act into party-line legislation. However, reconciliation bills must relate only to spending and tax issues, limiting the scope of SAVE bills that can be passed in this way.
The budget resolution also includes $13 billion for the Intelligence Committee, which Republican aides said was in response to the Trump administration’s request for more sensitive projects. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for further details.
“Reconciliation 3.0 is underway,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) told reporters.
The House Budget Committee is scheduled to consider the measure Thursday morning. If passed, it will be considered by the House of Representatives, where Republicans currently hold a 218-212 majority. It is then submitted to these committees to begin drafting the bill.
“On Thursday, House Republicans will begin a third round of budget reconciliation to thwart Democratic obstruction, support our troops, and protect the integrity of our elections,” House Budget Chair Jody Arrington (R-Texas) said in a statement. “We will use every tool and resource at our disposal on behalf of the freedom-loving people who govern our great nation and give the Republican Party unified leadership.”
The committee’s top Democrats immediately denounced the bill.
“Republicans have already made Americans worse off and added trillions of dollars to the national debt. This ‘America’s last’ budget will add tens of billions more to the national debt to fund the most unpopular war in American history,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat. “I will fight tooth and nail to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used to lower costs and improve the lives of American families, not to give to President Trump’s billionaires or fund endless wars overseas.”
Fiscal hawks aren’t happy with the bill either.
Rep. Nancy Mace (RS.C.) criticized the budget Wednesday, calling it “$95 billion in new deficit spending, unoffsets, and no provisions to lower the cost of living.”
Maya McGuineas, chair of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which advocates for spending cuts, decried the lack of “offsets” and said the Republican plan would widen the budget deficit.
“After taking interest charges into account, the proposed settlement could increase debt by more than $100 billion over the next 10 years,” McGuineas said. “It’s incomprehensible that we’re not requesting an offset in this budget.”
If the reconciliation bill ultimately passes the House, it could be amended by the Senate, which would place restrictions on what the bill could include. It’s the same process Republicans used to pass President Trump’s “Big and Beautiful Bill” last year and the recent ICE and Border Patrol funding bill.
