Republicans took a key step Thursday in their push to enact a $95 billion budget reconciliation package, advancing the plan out of the House Budget Committee in a 20-14 vote along party lines.
The measure would allow up to $73 billion in military and intelligence funding, $12 billion in farm aid and $10 billion for election-related efforts that President Trump has prioritized.
The GOP plan still faces serious obstacles, including skepticism from fiscal hawks who want new savings to offset the additional spending. The legislation put forth by Republican leaders has no such cuts. Some Republicans are reportedly also disappointed that the reconciliation package is much narrower than initially planned and lacks a proposed $350 billion boost for the Pentagon or additional tax cuts.
Republican leaders have tried to quell any grumbling about the plan, with limited success. Vice President JD Vance reportedly tried — and failed — to address the concerns of House GOP hard-liners at a Wednesday afternoon meeting.
House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington also argued Thursday that Trump is pursuing sizable savings outside of the reconciliation process.
"He declared war on fraud,” Arrington said. “One million dollars every minute of every hour of every day for a year is what is leaking in fraud out of the people's government, and he has a whole-of-government attack on that—over $500 billion a year in fraud.”
Arrington also argued that the boost in defense funding should be uncontroversial.
“We are using reconciliation to just give baseline readiness—not Star Wars and Golden Dome and transformative modernization of the military, just the bombs, bullets, and battlefield readiness for our men and women in uniform to finish the fight successfully and return home safely—that's it,” he said. He made similar arguments about the need to ensure food security and confidence in U.S. elections.
House leaders reportedly have also suggested that party priorities left out of this package can be addressed in a fourth reconciliation bill.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, the top Democrat on the budget panel, slammed the GOP plan for ignoring voters’ concerns.
“Now, you might think, given that the top issue in the 2024 election was affordability, and that the top issue today is affordability, you might think the majority would want to spend time in a reconciliation bill addressing the No. 1 issue on voters' minds,” he said. “I can tell you, 47 pages in their bill, 6,560 words, and not one word on bringing down costs for the American people. Not one word. Instead, we have tens of billions of dollars for the most unpopular war in American history. So, over the last 18 months, we have seen where Republicans' priorities are: trillions of dollars in tax cuts for billionaires, tens of billions of dollars for war, and absolutely nothing for the American people.”
What’s next: The Budget Committee action tees up a floor vote expected to come next week before lawmakers are scheduled to head out for their August recess. House Republican leaders may still have work to do to get buy-in from deficit hawks. And the reconciliation blueprint also faces opposition in the Senate, where defense hawks will want more military funding and fiscal conservatives will want to see spending offset.
The House agenda for next week reportedly also could include another attempt at passing the annual defense policy bill and a GOP effort to pass a stopgap spending bill, potentially extending federal funding past the November elections to avert the possibility of a government shutdown when the current fiscal year ends on September 30.
The bottom line: Republican leaders are racing to enact their plans, with little time left before an August break and the November midterms. It’s not clear yet if they can forge consensus among their members.