Three House committees yesterday advanced their portion of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful” government funding bill to carry out his MAGA agenda.
The House Ways and Means Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Agriculture Committee have each taken votes on their respective budget bills.
The bills, which were passed in party-line votes, touch on loaded issues related to topics like Medicaid, tax policy, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. Republicans have a top-line goal of cutting spending by at least $1 trillion—though that’s easier said than done.
The standalone bills will be combined by the Republican leadership into one mega-reconciliation bill, which would allow the GOP to bypass the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate.
Before then, however, they need to pass it through the narrowly-divided House where House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can spare just three defections on any party-line vote.
The House Ways and Means Committee pushed its bill forward overnight on May 13, passing it along party lines with a 26–19 vote.
“The bill delivers what Americans voted for—tax policies that put working families first—and kickstarts a new golden era of American prosperity and strength,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said in a statement before the markup hearing.
It includes several of Trump’s top priorities: ending taxes on tips, overtime pay, and car loan interest for American-made vehicles; extending the boosted Child Tax Credit (CTC), among others.
Democrats say the bill will be skewed toward wealthy Americans and worsen the federal government’s fiscal position.
Under the bill, “a taxpayer who’s making more than [$1 million] a year … gets 310 times the average tax cut [that] taxpayers making less than $50,000 a year [get],” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said.
The tax cuts are estimated to cost $3.7 trillion, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved changes to Medicaid in a party-line 30–24 vote on May 14 after a marathon session lasting more than 26 hours.
The proposal will reduce federal spending by $712 billion over 10 years, accounting for a large portion of the $880 billion in cumulative spending reductions through to 2034.
Under the bill, able-bodied adults who do not have dependents would have to complete 80 or more hours per month at work, receiving education, or in volunteer service.
Enrollees in the low-income program would also have to show they are keeping up with the eligibility requirements twice a year instead of annually.
Republicans said the reforms are commonsense and necessary measures to extend the solvency of the $914 billion program by ensuring that only people entitled to receive Medicaid benefits are enrolled and receiving payments through the program.
Democrats said the changes would create barriers to enrollment and health care for low-income, disabled, and elderly people and would rob millions of low-income Americans of health coverage.
The bill would also add a requirement for some Medicaid recipients who make more than 100 percent of the federal poverty level to pay certain out-of-pocket expenses.
The House Committee on Agriculture, after its own marathon hearing that exceeded 24 hours, advanced legislation that proposes federal cuts to the SNAP program, commonly known as “food stamps,” which it oversees.
The panel passed the legislation in a strictly party-line 29–25 vote after a contentious hearing.
It would reduce reform expenditures on SNAP by reducing the federal government’s portion to 95 percent, beginning in fiscal year 2028, requiring states to pick up 5 percent of the SNAP burden.
It would also impose new work requirements, limiting eligibility to 90 days for able-bodied adults without work.
The committee was also ordered to find at least $230 billion in savings as part of the $1 trillion in cuts ordered by House leadership.
Republicans said the proposal would shrink the national debt and return SNAP to its original, narrower congressional intent.
In his opening remarks in favor of the legislation, Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) said the Agriculture Committee legislation would “restore integrity” to SNAP and “make sure that this essential program works for the most vulnerable and functions as Congress has intended.”
Democrats were deeply critical of the proposed budget, with many comparing the bill to “Robin Hood in reverse.”
They also expressed concerns that the legislation would negatively impact American agriculture more broadly.
One major issue still threatens to derail the package as it comes together: the State and Local Tax deduction (SALT).
SALT allows voters to write off state and local taxes for federal purposes, making it popular in blue states like New York or California—where taxes tend to be high.
The SALT deduction currently sits at $10,000, but Republicans from Democrat-controlled states like New York and California want it increased.
The bill passed by the House Ways and Means Committee increases it to $30,000 but a group of four Republicans from New York say it’s not enough.
Conservatives, meanwhile, have criticized SALT, alleging it requires GOP-led states to subsidize high-tax Democrat states.
With multiple Republicans unhappy over the issue, Johnson could have trouble passing the legislation in the full vote on the House floor.
—Joseph Lord, Andrew Moran, and Lawrence Wilson
BOOKMARKS
Trump struck a deal with Qatar on Wednesday that the White House predicts will generate more than $1.2 trillion in economic exchange between that nation and the United States. Among other details, the deal includes the sale of $96 billion in Boeing jets to Qatar Airways.
The United States experienced a sharp decline in drug overdose deaths in 2024, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Overdose fatalities are down nearly 27 percent, the steepest decline since the CDC began tracking the statistics over four decades ago.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed a bill into law on Tuesday that allows the state to tap into a $25 million fund to pay for abortions. The funds were collected as part of a $1-a-month surcharge collected on each insurance policy purchased under the Affordable Care Act.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Wednesday that three Democrat members of Congress could face consequences for their part in a demonstration at a New Jersey Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility last week. New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver, and Robert Menendez may lose their committee seats, face censure, or be expelled from Congress, although that last punishment is highly unlikely.
German and Swiss authorities have arrested three men in connection with a 2024 plot to send explosive packages from Germany to Ukraine. Some officials have accused Russia of masterminding the plot, but the suspects are Ukrainian citizens, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested the accusation was “more fake news or a manifestation of blind Russophobia.”
—Stacy Robinson
