WASHINGTON — The House Budget Committee unveiled on Wednesday the long-awaited budget proposal for its massive reconciliation bill, outlining a blueprint to extend trillions of dollars in tax cuts and cut government spending.
The committee released the 45-page bill, which sets the topline number for tax and spending levels that would guide committees on how to craft the legislation. The panel is set to mark up the resolution on Thursday, after which it would be sent to the full House for consideration.
If passed, committees would set out to find the necessary spending cuts outlined in the resolution before coming together to craft a massive spending package.
Under the resolution, the House Ways and Means Committee would be given $4.5 trillion to extend tax cuts previously approved in President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Details on how that money would be allocated is not yet clear and does not need to be decided until committees begin drafting the bill.
In exchange, committees will be tasked with finding at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.
Specifically, the Agriculture Committee is instructed to find $230 billion in cuts over the next 10 years; Energy and Commerce to find $880 billion; Education and Workforce to find $330 billion; Financial Services to find $1 billion; Natural Resources to find $1 billion; Oversight to find $50 billion; and Transportation to find $10 billion in cuts.
The bill would then allow for a $300 billion increase in mandatory spending, split between the committees on Homeland Security, Judiciary, and Armed Services.
Additionally, the bill would approve a $4 trillion increase of the debt ceiling — a key element that aligns with demands from hardliners on the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
There had been talks about whether to include the debt limit increase in the reconciliation package or wait until the March appropriations bill. However, some Republicans — including Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance — urged lawmakers to include it in the reconciliation package so Democrats could not use it as leverage in the government funding package next month.
The March appropriations package will likely require bipartisan support to pass the House and Senate, so Republicans had raised concerns that Democrats would use the necessary debt ceiling increase to notch certain policy wins.
The House Budget Committee will mark up the resolution on Thursday, its first hurdle before making it to the House floor. It’s not yet clear whether it has enough support to pass the committee, especially after House Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a fiscal hawk who has demanded deeper spending cuts, has said he would like to see more policies included.
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is expressing confidence that the resolution will make it through the committee, teeing it up for a vote on the House floor by the end of the month.