Republican leadership secured a major win Wednesday after passing a $95 billion budget framework for a party-line spending bill.
The framework includes money for the Pentagon amid the Iran war, farmers, and election integrity reforms. The resolution passed 216-214, exactly a week after the framework was unveiled, but not without a fight, after several Republican members headed into the vote undecided.
Two Republicans, Reps. Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA), an independent who caucuses with the GOP, opposed the resolution.
We’re getting better at it [reconciliation] every time we do it,” House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner. “We’re getting we’re getting more efficient.”
“It was a busy week and lots of meetings to address all kinds of questions and concerns to get people feeling good about the product, and I think we’re there,” he continued. “I think it speaks for itself. Election integrity and and support for our troops in conflict.”
GOP hard-liners held out their vote on the legislation after a slew of concerns that were not addressed in the third bill, such as cuts to Planned Parenthood funding, rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as affordability issues that have become a focal point for the 2026 election.
Along with the lack of provisions in the bill, these members took issue with the bill containing no offsets for the $95 billion in spending.
But while the House has moved quickly to usher through the budget framework, the Senate has yet to unveil its own version, in part because of the unexpected death of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who was the Senate’s budget committee chairman.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) also told reporters Tuesday that his chamber would not take up the third budget bill until after a government funding deal is hammered out, taking the wind out of the House’s flurry to kick off the reconciliation process.
The House’s resolution includes spending instructions for four committees: the House Administration Committee at $10 billion, the House Armed Services Committee at $60 billion, the House Agriculture Committee at $12 billion, and the House Intelligence Committee at $13 billion, with no spending offsets in the resolution.
In the budget bill, House Republicans are considering including the main components of the SAVE America Act, something GOP hard-liners have demanded be included in exchange for their support of the legislation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has previously said Republicans will work to pass as much of the SAVE America Act into law “as possible.”
In its current form, the SAVE America Act would not pass the Senate’s Byrd Rule, which governs policies allowed in reconciliation bills, meaning Republicans would need to overrule the parliamentarian’s ruling, something Thune has previously refused to do.
In an effort to circumvent that, a source familiar with the matter told the Washington Examiner that Republicans and leadership are “actively” working through attaching a “real mandatory SAVE policy” to the budget bill with the goal of it overcoming the Senate’s “Byrd bath.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
