By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tuesday evening, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a large budget framework to advance President Trump’s legislative agenda.
It was the first major legislative test for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R- LA) and Republican lawmakers in the 119th Congress.
“The American people made it clear in November: they want Congress to secure all of our nation’s borders, rein in wasteful spending, and expand American energy production. This budget resolution does just that,” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R- PA).
“While there is still much more to do, we are determined to send a bill to President Trump’s desk that secures our border, keeps taxes low for families and job creators, restores American energy dominance, strengthens America’s standing on the world stage, and makes government work more effectively for all Americans,” said Speaker Johnson after the vote.
Speaker Johnson worked with President Trump to persuade Republican holdouts up to the very last minute to get the resolution across the finish line. The measure was actually stalled at one point and pulled from the floor. Members were then told to go home because it appeared there was not enough Republican support to pass it. Minutes later, in a rare occurrence, GOP leadership called everyone back and brought the bill to the floor again before ultimately passing it.
Getting the resolution through the House was a crucial step in the budget reconciliation process- the complicated and lengthy process that enables a party to pass legislation with a simple majority, or 51 votes, instead of the 60-vote threshold typically required for bills to pass the Senate. The reconciliation process can be used effectively when a party controls both chambers of Congress and the White House, in this case, it’s Republicans.
The House GOP budget framework instructs committees to draft legislation that cuts over $4 trillion in taxes, cuts close to $2 trillion in spending and raises the debt ceiling by$4 trillion.
Committees will have to find billions of dollars in cuts over the next decade. To achieve those cuts, Democrats say Republicans are going to target Medicaid, nutritional assistance and other key services.
“The GOP budget is a shameless tax giveaway to Elon Musk, paid for by newborns who need Medicaid, hungry families who need food, and nursing home residents who need round-the-clock care. I don’t know a single Upstate New Yorker who thinks billionaires deserve another break while the most vulnerable in our communities get screwed — I sure as hell don’t,” said Rep. Josh Riley (D- NY).
“Democrats are opposed to it because it blocks their opportunity to filibuster it in the Senate,” said Rep. Nick Langworthy (R- NY).
Langworthy and many House Republicans say they believe President Trump when he says he does not wish to cut Medicaid, Medicare, nor Social Security. They accuse Democrats of using scare tactics.
“Trying to scare people that we’re going to take your kids school lunch away, scaring elderly people that they’re going to get kicked out of nursing homes, that the hospitals are going to close because we’re taking Medicaid away. This is nonsense and this is what they do when they’re losing the argument. They try to scare people,” said Langworthy. “The President’s been pretty clear. He doesn’t want to see any changes to benefits for people on Medicaid. I don’t either. I mean, we have to have a compassionate safety net,” Langworthy added.
Lawmakers will have to come up with the money somehow. If not from government programs and services, then where? Some House Republicans say that question is up to the various committees that will be tasked with constructing the massive package of legislation that fully implements Trump’s priorities. The process could take weeks, even months.
“Now, this bill goes to the Senate. They will put their spin on it. It will come back and we will get to work with each and every committee to put in place the commonsense tax code into the future and hopefully make it permanent,” said Langworthy.
