The House of Representatives passed on July 22 a budget blueprint to kickstart the process to pass a $95 billion bill along party lines to fund the military, aid farmers, and incentivize states to adopt voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements.
This was the third attempt at reconciliation. There are no offsets in the legislation, an issue for fiscal hawks.
Both the House and Senate must pass an identical budget resolution to begin the reconciliation process. Reconciliation bills bypass the 60-vote Senate filibuster that applies to most legislation.
Instructions in the budget resolution call for the House Armed Services Committee, the House Agriculture Committee, the House Intelligence Committee, and the House Administration Committee to mark up the bill.
The measure would also allocate $13 billion for the intelligence community. This comes as a key warrantless surveillance program under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act expired in June. Democrats are blocking it and indicated they would continue to do so as long as Bill Pulte is acting director of national intelligence. Trump nominated Jay Clayton to permanently take the post. The Senate Intelligence Committee advanced Clayton’s nomination on July 21.
The resolution includes $12 billion in assistance to America’s farmers, who have been negatively impacted by U.S. tariffs.
U.S. agricultural exports in 2025 fell by 3 percent from 2024. Most of the overall fall in U.S. exports is attributed to China, where imports of U.S. agricultural goods were down by $16 billion, and Canada, where imports from the United States declined by $1.3 billion.
Finally, the resolution consists of $10 billion for states to implement parts of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo voter ID to vote in federal elections. Grants would incentivize states to implement proof of citizenship and voter ID requirements outlined in the SAVE America Act.
Although the budget resolution passed the House, its future in the Senate is in limbo.
During a July 21 press conference, Thune said the Senate will not take up the budget blueprint until the upper congressional chamber passes legislation to fund the government past the midterm elections in November.
“We’ll see what they get done this week and what it all consists of,” Thune said, referring to the House. “I will say that if they give us a budget resolution as a vehicle, we will hold that, subject to obviously being able to move a continuing resolution to fund the government.”
Thune acknowledged that the Senate taking up the budget resolution “would be something that would get punted into September.”
But Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, called for a vote-a-rama before the August recess. A vote-a-rama happens when the Senate takes up a reconciliation measure where unlimited amendments can be offered.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he does not know whether there could be a vote-a-rama before the August recess.
