House Republicans have released the outline of their $95 billion reconciliation package, earmarking billions of dollars for conservative initiatives before the midterm elections.
Democratic lawmakers have been using the filibuster to stall legislation such as the SAVE America Act in the Senate, forcing Republicans to resort to reconciliation to pass conservative budget measures. This is the third major reconciliation bill outlined of the Congress, and it has consequently been dubbed “Reconciliation 3.0.”
The resolution allocates $60 billion to the House Armed Services Committee for defense spending, $13 billion to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for financing the war in Iran, $12 billion to the House Committee on Agriculture for farm subsidies and grants, and $10 billion for a grant program encouraging states to implement SAVE America Act provisions.
A reconciliation bill requires only a simple majority vote to pass the Senate, bypassing the filibuster and cloture rules.
The $95 billion is not expected to be offset by spending cuts. Despite the increase in the deficit, many Republicans still plan to back the reconciliation bill.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a strong fiscal hawk, said that he is “getting a little hung up” on the spending, but said that the situations America is facing require emergency funding.
“If it’s a reasonably targeted amount on defense, and we’re dealing with these — you know, trying to force the Senate’s hand on SAVE America, then we’ll see if we can get it done,” Roy said.
“I’m not one that wants to swallow lack of offsets,” Roy added. “When you have a three-seat majority, you got to figure out how to move. So we’re working through that as we speak.”
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) expressed similar sentiments. “Adding to the deficit is clearly something I don’t want to do, but we have to look at what the consequence is if we don’t do it,” he said.
Speaker Mike Johnson has been working to hammer out the budget resolution, meeting with Republicans on the House Budget Committee and White House officials at Camp David on Monday.
He stated that he has been “building consensus one step at a time” by making agreements such as shrinking farm aid down from $20 billion to $12 billion, Politico reported.
The reconciliation bill will remain under consideration for the rest of the week, with the House expected to vote on the budget resolution next week.
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