House Republican leaders released the text of their $95 billion third reconciliation bill on Wednesday morning and aim to pass it next week.
The bill includes four titles, as NOTUS first reported on Tuesday, but after a full day of negotiating, the total cost has decreased slightly from the original outline.
The bill provides $10 billion to the House Administration Committee to give in grants to implement the SAVE Act, a voter ID bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. It directs $60 billion to the House Armed Services Committee for defense and another $13 billion to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for the Iran war and national security. It also includes $12 billion for the House Agriculture Committee for farm aid.
The bill does not include any spending cuts to offset the billions in new government spending, which is sure to anger some House conservatives.
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When asked why there were no cuts included, a House GOP leadership aide, who requested anonymity to talk about about leadership discussions, argued that “Democrats have no interest in providing that very necessary funding for national defense and for agriculture,” so the dynamic is different.
“So you know, it’s not necessarily a choice between this and nothing. It’s a choice between this and, you know, theoretically and an even larger un-offset spending package, but that said, I think all our members, even our biggest fiscal hawks, recognize the importance of providing this funding,” the aide said.
While the SAVE Act has been approved by the House, it doesn’t have the support to pass in the Senate. House Republicans insisted on putting funding for it in this third party-line package, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly said the measure can’t pass through reconciliation because of Senate budget rules and the lack of support in the upper chamber.
With pressure from the president and the base to pass the voting provisions, House Republicans believe this latest attempt could move through the Senate.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations with the leader, directly between the speaker and the leader, with their staff and with the White House as well,” the leadership aide said.
The aide added that some changes were made to address some concerns from the Senate and White House. “As a general statement, the shape of this resolution is really responding to concerns that were raised with us by the White House and with the Senate to ensure that we’re trying to avoid some of the land mines they had flagged and put this in the best position to pass through the Senate and get the president’s approval.”
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