This week, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a budget resolution to enable the passage of legislation to fund the Trump administration’s America First policy initiatives.
The resolution for fiscal year 2025 authorizes over $5 trillion in new spending and directs committees of the House to make recommendations regarding how the money will be spent. It also calls for at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.
The largest share of spending, totaling $4.5 trillion, is allocated to the House Ways and Means Committee—intended for the extension of tax cuts that were part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017.
The measure also authorizes $100 billion for military spending, $200 billion for border security and immigration enforcement, and a separate $4 trillion increase in the federal government’s sovereign debt limit.
The House Rules Committee will consider the measure on Monday afternoon.
Separately, the Senate on Feb. 21 passed its own budget resolution—a limited version of the same plan, authorizing a $300 billion boost to border security and military spending—for the reconciliation process. It also provides for changes in energy policy, while being completely offset by cuts in mandatory spending.
Although President Donald Trump has endorsed the House’s version, lawmakers said the Senate’s plan is intended as a reserve option in case the House fails to pass its version of the resolution or the eventual bill to be drafted.
Trump, during the 2024 election, vowed to complete the construction of a wall along the border with Mexico, remove illegal immigrants physically present in the United States, and extend the TCJA’s provisions, among other promises. Each of these initiatives will require substantial funding from Congress. Republicans in Congress are using the reconciliation process to authorize such funding.
The reconciliation process is necessary amid unanimous Democratic opposition to Trump’s agenda. It allows Republicans to bypass Senate filibuster rules that mean support from 60 senators is needed to advance legislation.
After advancing their budget resolution through the House Budget Committee on Feb. 13, Republicans in the House intend to bring the resolution to the floor for a final vote, House Majority Leader Steven Scalise’s (R-La.) office told The Epoch Times.
Trump last week endorsed the House’s plan for one spending bill over the Senate’s two-bill version.
“The House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not just parts of it! We need both Chambers to pass the House Budget to ‘kickstart’ the Reconciliation process and move all of our priorities to the concept of, ‘ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL,’” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Days later, the president said he’s still open to multiple bills as long as they add up “to the same thing.”
For weeks, the Senate and House have disagreed on the strategy to enact such funding.
Currently, in the Senate, there is opposition within the Republican Conference to the House plan to potentially cut Medicaid funding to pay for TCJA extensions. Trump has maintained that Medicaid and Social Security won’t be cut, other than dealing with fraud, as part of any funding plan.
The Senate has proposed a two-bill plan, whereby the first reconciliation bill will address the less controversial issues of border security and military spending. The second bill, per that plan, would address taxation, the sovereign debt limit, and efficiency reforms to Medicaid.
The Senate’s plan has long been opposed by the House, where the Republicans’ one-seat majority entails a fragile consensus between fiscal conservatives and the rest of the conference.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has repeatedly said that his conference can only, realistically, pass one reconciliation bill. Hence, the House resolution authorizes spending targets for all areas of focus—such as $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, and $4 trillion for the debt limit.
—Arjun Singh, Joseph Lord
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