House to Take up Revised Budget Blueprint That Passed the Senate

The House of Representatives this week will take up a Senate budget blueprint, the next step in the lengthy process to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda.

In the early morning hours of April 5, following a marathon vote series on amendments required by the rules of the process, the Senate advanced the resolution in a mostly party-line 51-48 vote. The only Republican opponents were Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine.

However, there have already been warning signs that pushing the blueprint through the House could face challenges. Leadership has already moved to squelch any opposition that could send the process back to the negotiating table.

“Adopting the Senate’s amendment to the House resolution will allow us to finally begin the most important phase of this process: drafting the reconciliation bill that will deliver on President Trump’s agenda and our promises to the American people,” Johnson wrote.

To overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold that kills most partisan legislation in the Senate on arrival, Republicans are using the reconciliation process. The highly restrictive process requires agreement on a budget blueprint authorizing both chambers to move forward with drafting the legislation.

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On April 2, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) unveiled Republicans’ draft of the budget instructions.

Most of its provisions, the product of weeks of bicameral negotiations, aligned with what was expected from the package, including tax policy, federal funding for energy, defense, and the border, and spending cuts.

The centerpiece of the Senate plan is making Trump’s 2017 personal income tax cuts permanent.

Many of its instructions for each chamber—including what to fund, the amounts, and spending cuts—still differ at this stage of the process to allow for flexibility in drafting the legislation.

Each chamber is ordered to provide new spending to defense, with additional allocations for homeland security. Speaking in support of the bill on the floor, Graham said this funding would be used to reduce the influx of fentanyl, finish the border wall, and provide more detention bed space for deportees.

Controversies

While funding for defense, energy, and homeland security is broadly supported by the party, some provisions in the Senate blueprint have already drawn the ire of powerful figures and groups in the House.

He said the resolution would see “$5.8 trillion in new costs and a mere $4 billion in enforceable cuts, less than one day’s worth of borrowing by the federal government.”

Other Republicans have expressed concerns about the impacts of the legislation on the debt ceiling.

Raising the debt ceiling, the maximum amount the government can borrow, is an unpopular concept among many Republicans as a matter of principle. Under the Senate draft, that amount could be raised by up to $5 trillion—while many House Republicans see $4 trillion as the cap.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told The Epoch Times in a text message that this provision made the bill “dead on arrival” in the House, saying it would alienate many in the powerful House Freedom Caucus.

The legislation also includes instructions for the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find at least $880 billion; an amount that would necessitate cuts to the Medicaid program. Some purple district Republicans have expressed reservations about this provision in the past but they have indicated they’re waiting to see the final product.

In an effort to head off an embarrassing defeat for the package, Johnson and leadership sought to emphasize that this wasn’t a vote on a final piece of legislation.

“The budget resolution is not the law itself but only the necessary kickoff for reconciliation to begin,” leaders wrote.

Johnson also sought to project an image of strength in the negotiating process, insisting to his caucus that they would not be steamrolled by the Senate.

House lawmakers have been out of town since last week, when Johnson ended the session early following the failure of a rule package. Many Republicans haven’t yet weighed in on the issue, making it unclear whether leadership will be able to whip up support for the Senate resolution.