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House Republicans managed to overcome internal disagreements and approve a budget framework Wednesday — a key step toward unlocking the power to skirt the Senate filibuster and pass a $95 billion package.
The vote succeeded 216-214 after Republican leaders were able to quell frustration among members that the blueprint does not include new spending offsets. House GOP leaders hope to enact a final package that pushes fresh cash to the military, intelligence programs, farm aid and election security.
Both the House and Senate need to adopt the same budget framework in order to begin the process of drafting, then passing, the third reconciliation bill of the 119th Congress. That means the onus is now on Senate Republican leaders to build support for the party-line plan Trump administration officials want the GOP to clear before the midterms.
The White House and Pentagon’s central pitch is that the military urgently needs a cash infusion amid the Iran war — and Democrats won’t provide the votes to make that money available through the regular-order process.
“We have immediate needs within the department, some bills we’ve got to pay. This conflict costs money,” Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), a top appropriator, said in an interview this week following meetings with senior Trump administration officials. “This we have to do.”
The House’s budget resolution also would allow $10 billion to go toward election security in the form of state grants to incentivize strict voter-ID laws — a fig leaf to President Donald Trump and the many Republicans on Capitol Hill who continue to demand passage of a separate partisan election security measure that is Trump’s top legislative priority.
Jordain Carney and Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.
