Republicans’ blueprint for a third party-line bill passed the U.S. House on a slim two-vote margin Wednesday, despite grumblings from fiscal hawks over the bill’s $95 billion price tag.
The budget resolution instructs relevant House committees to craft a budget reconciliation bill allocating at most $73 billion for defense spending, mostly to help finance the costs of the U.S.-Iran conflict.
It also directs $12 billion to go toward farm assistance and $10 billion to incentivize states to implement policies from Republicans’ contested voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act.
“I am humbled by the steadfast unity and unwavering determination from House Republicans to break the Democrat obstruction so we can provide emergency support for our troops, safeguard the integrity of our elections, and continue delivering on the priorities of the American people,” House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said in a statement issued after the successful vote. “I urge the Senate to seize this fateful moment to SAVE and Protect America.”
Budget reconciliation bills can pass the Senate with a simple majority – a majority that Republicans currently hold – so long as the content is restricted to debt and deficit-related policies.
That means Republicans could not fully incorporate the SAVE America Act, which mandates that people present proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and states remove noncitizens from their voter rolls, even if the measure passes and is signed into law.
As House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has floated, the $10 billion earmark will likely go toward creating a federal fund incentivizing states to enforce stricter election security measures themselves.
Democrats lambasted the $95 billion framework, arguing that lawmakers should not be supporting military operations that Congress has legally told the Trump administration to halt.
“If you ask anyone what Congress should be doing with a new budget, they’d say bringing down the cost of living. This Republican budget doesn’t even try. It just spends even more money on Trump’s Iran war,” House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., posted on social media. “I’ll keep leading the fight to stop this America Last budget.”
The Committee for a Responsible Budget has warned that the $95 billion in deficit spending would actually add $130 billion to the national debt over the next 10 years due to accumulating interest costs. The U.S. national debt is currently $39 trillion.
