House Adopts Budget Resolution to Unlock GOP Reconciliation Effort

The House formally adopted [216-214] the updated GOP budget resolution to officially unlock the reconciliation process for President Trump’s legislative agenda on tax, border, energy, and more. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) originally intended to hold a vote on the updated resolution during yesterday’s session, but more than a dozen GOP lawmakers expressed concerns about the lack of clarity around spending cuts within the reconciliation effort — the Senate’s instructions hover around $4 billion, much less than the $1.5 trillion in reductions eyed in the original House resolution. Nevertheless, Republicans on the House Freedom Caucus were assuaged by comments from Speaker Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) about their willingness to pursue spending cuts deemed adequate by the Conference and the Trump administration. These holdouts, including Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Andy Harris (R-MD), Eric Burlison (R-MO), and more, ultimately supported the resolution during this morning’s vote.

• What’s next? Pursuant to the budget resolution, committees of instruction have until Friday, May 9 to produce their respective reconciliation bills. It is expected that Republicans will try to move as quickly as possible through the upcoming May work period with the goal of passing the reconciliation bill before Memorial Day. However, intraparty discussions over the size and scope of spending cuts —  particularly as it pertains to public benefit programs like Medicaid and SNAP — as well as permanently extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), will need to be carefully navigated in order to maintain this timeline.
• On the Senate side… The chamber is set to pass a resolution of disapproval to overturn a Biden-era regulation relating to “Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Gas-fired Instantaneous Water Heaters.” A final confirmation vote on Mark Meador’s nomination to be a Federal Trade Commissioner is also slated for today.