WASHINGTON — House Republicans released a budget resolution Wednesday that calls for cutting taxes by up to $4.5 trillion and sets a goal of slashing federal spending by $2 trillion.
The House Budget Committee is scheduled to consider the blueprint Thursday. If it's approved by the panel and the full House, the Republicans can get started on crafting a massive party-line bill to pass President Donald Trump's agenda.
On immigration and border security funding, a top Trump priority, the resolution would grant the Judiciary Committee, which oversees immigration policy, $110 billion.
That's less than the Senate budget resolution, which would grant the Judiciary Committee $175 billion for immigration enforcement.
The resolution also would raise the debt limit by $4 trillion ahead of an expected deadline later this year for Congress to act or risk an economically calamitous default on the country’s obligations.
It adds that the “goal of this concurrent resolution to reduce mandatory spending by $2 trillion” — referring to the part of the budget that includes Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP benefits and more.
If the House fails to find $2 trillion in deficit reduction, the resolution says, the Ways and Means Committee’s mandate of $4.5 trillion “should be reduced by a commensurate amount to offset the difference.” House conservatives have demanded steeper cuts.
"This budget resolution is a key step to start the process in delivering President Trump’s America First agenda," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement. "With nearly every House Republican directly engaged in this deliberative process, this resolution reflects our collective commitment to enacting the President’s full agenda—not just a part of it."
"There will be ongoing debates and discussions in the coming weeks, and we remain focused on working through the process to deliver on our promises made to the American people. There’s still much work to be done, but we are starting on the right path," Johnson said.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, dismissed the proposal.
“This Republican plan isn’t just bad policy—it betrays the middle class. Their proposal slashes critical programs that millions of hardworking Americans rely on, all while adding trillions of dollars to the deficit to bankroll massive giveaways for giant corporations and billionaires like Elon Musk,” Boyle said in a statement.
The House GOP's budget resolution will need a majority vote to pass out of the Budget Committee before it can head to the full House, where Republicans have a paper-thin majority of 218 to 215 (and no hope of earning Democratic votes). The House is set to be on recess next week.
Hard-line Republicans said Wednesday they were not yet sold on the budget blueprint.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said there were still “a lot of variables” he had to look at before he decided his stance.
Roy, who is on the Budget Committee, said he had been “clear since December that I think we need to get to 2½ trillion in cuts.” That’s more than the goal listed in the budget resolution of reducing mandatory spending by $2 trillion.
“If you’re asking me to spend defense money through the reconciliation process, then I need to know that we’re going to be holding appropriations in check come March 14 when the current government funding expires,” he said.
Another budget panel member, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., also said he is not yet decided on the resolution. “Tomorrow depends on what amendments we have,” he said. “Lots of unanswered questions.”
Asked whether he thought the budget would pass out of committee, Norman said: “I don’t know. A lot of people have questions and whether it’ll satisfy everybody to get it to pass. And then the next question is, is it going to pass on the floor? … So I think President Trump is going to have to get involved.”
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a former chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, called the budget resolution “a place to start, but there’s always room for improvement.”
Chief among Perry’s concerns is the level of spending cuts it outlines. “I don’t want to bankrupt the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, the GOP-controlled Senate Budget Committee voted 11-10 on Thursday to approve its own budget resolution. The resolution directs committees to allocate $342 billion in funding for the border, energy, and the military over the next four years, and asks committees to find cuts and reforms that would offset the spending.
The chair of the panel, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., criticized the House GOP for allowing less funding for immigration than the $175 billion that Trump's border czar Tom Homan called for.
"They're not listening to the administration as to what they need," Graham said Wednesday. "I'm comfortable with $175 billion. Now it's not time to go on the cheap to secure the border. ... I'd like to hear why they should get half of what they requested."
But Johnson has insisted that the House needs to move first.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., slammed the GOP plan.
“Republicans are pulling a fast one on working people by reaching into their pockets to pay for billionaire handouts,” she said in a statement. “Make no mistake: this GOP plan will raise the cost that American families pay for groceries, health care, and getting an education — all to fund tax cuts for the ultra-rich.”
The "budget reconciliation" process, which gives Republicans the ability to bypass the 60-vote filibuster rule in the Senate, is separate from the March 14 government funding deadline to avert a shutdown, which will require a bipartisan deal.
