House Republicans on Wednesday muscled through a $95 billion budget framework that includes President Donald Trump’s request to fund the Iran war, farm aid and grants for states to encourage voter ID requirements.
The resolution’s slim 216-214 passage comes after the White House and House GOP leaders for weeks worked to corral rank-and-file Republicans in support of the measure. Lawmakers voiced concerns about various components of the third package. Republican leaders are using the budget reconciliation process to get around a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
The budget resolution includes $73 billion for defense and intelligence, $12 billion for farm assistance and $10 billion for the voter ID grant programs.
“Here we are, reconciliation 3.0, supporting our troops in their time of need … bullets and bombs to finish the job,” Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chair of the House Budget Committee, said on the House floor ahead of the vote. “Strengthen our food supply and ultimately, we want to safeguard the integrity of our elections.”
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Before the vote, House Republicans across the ideological spectrum criticized the budget resolution, some arguing that it was too narrow and some complaining it did not contain enough conservative priorities or spending cuts to offset the cost.
Speaker Mike Johnson previously pledged to lawmakers that the party’s third reconciliation bill would be a broader package. Part of the pitch from Johnson and the White House this week was that Republicans would instead shift some conservative priorities to a fourth reconciliation package — after the November midterms.
Ultimately, conservatives, moderates and fiscal hawks backed the nearly $100 billion budget blueprint that did not include offsets for the new spending. Two House Republicans, Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, broke with the leaders and opposed the package on Wednesday. Independent Rep. Kevin Kiley of California also voted against it.
“Many of you like to say that major legislating can’t happen in an election year — we just proved you wrong,” Johnson told reporters after the vote. “Tomorrow, House Republicans will return to their districts armed with a proven track record of success.”
The vote is the opening salvo in what is expected to be an extended back-and-forth between Republicans in the House and Senate over how to pass the party’s third reconciliation package this Congress. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters this week that he would hold the House’s budget resolution until lawmakers can sort out government funding, which is set to expire at the end of September.
The House separately approved a bill largely along party lines that would punt the government funding fight until after the midterms, funding the government into December. That plan faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where GOP leaders will need the support of at least seven Democrats to pass any government funding measure. Senate Democrats have been hesitant to vote to fund the government over the past year and a half without concessions from Republicans. Thune indicated if Senate Democrats fail to negotiate a bill to avoid a shutdown he could decide to add it to the party-line package.
House and Senate Republican leaders are working against a ticking clock to negotiate agreement on a package that can pass both chambers. Thune has repeatedly said the SAVE Act provisions, focused on Trump’s priority bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, do not have the votes to pass in the Senate. House lawmakers are scheduled to leave Washington on Thursday for a monthlong August recess and return with just four more weeks in session before the November midterms. Senators are in Washington until the end of July, and will return in September with just three weeks of session left.
This story has been updated with a comment from Johnson.
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