Senate Republicans Release 70-Page Budget Resolution. Here’s What It Includes

U.S. | Money

20 hours ago

Originally posted by: The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—Senate Republicans on April 2 released a 70-page budget resolution intended as a compromise between the upper and lower chambers.

The resolution comes as the House and Senate continue to work toward the passage of President Donald Trump’s agenda through a single reconciliation package. To move forward with the process, both the House and the Senate need to agree to an identical budget resolution.

“Today is one of the most important steps toward ensuring the Republican majority fulfills its promise to the American people that we will secure our border, strengthen our national security, make President Trump’s tax cuts permanent, and reduce spending,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the resolution.

The resolution follows weeks of negotiations between the two chambers, but there are already signs of division that could pose hurdles to moving forward with the package.

Here’s what to know about the proposal.

Trump’s Tax Cuts Made Permanent

The centerpiece of the proposal is making permanent the tax cuts passed as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was a key demand in the Senate from the beginning.

To do this, Graham said, current policy would be used as the baseline to calculate the bill’s long-term impact on the deficit.

Graham said that under the Congressional Budget Act, he has the authority to unilaterally use current policy as the baseline, without the input of the Senate parliamentarian.

“This will allow the tax cuts to be permanent—which will tremendously boost the economy,” Graham said.

This move is geared to keep the resolution in compliance with the Byrd Rule, which requires that any provision that will impact the budget beyond 10 years be made temporary.

Graham and Republicans say that using the current policy baseline will ensure no long-term financial impact from the tax cuts, thus allowing them to be made permanent.

It will ultimately be up to the parliamentarian to confirm compliance with the Byrd Rule.

Funding, Spending Cuts

The resolution proposes funding levels for various areas of the federal government, while also calling for spending cuts in others.

Some differences are still permitted during this phase of the process, as this would give the House and the Senate flexibility in proposing drafts of reconciliation bills. Ultimately, an identical one would need to pass both chambers to get to Trump’s desk.

The measure calls for the House to allocate $100 billion for defense and calls on the Senate to allocate $150 billion for the same purpose.

The resolution instructs the House to allocate $90 billion toward homeland security, which would include the border, while it calls for the Senate to put up $175 billion for the same purpose. The final reconciliation bill is expected to include several border security measures.

It also calls for spending cuts, with the House ordered to find $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, though that’s expected to rise to at least $2 trillion. The Senate is ordered to look for a far heftier $4 trillion in cuts by the resolution.

Medicaid

The resolution leaves intact an earlier call for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to find $880 billion in cuts, which would necessitate cuts to Medicaid.

This issue has been the central rallying point that lawmakers from the Democratic Party have taken against the legislation. Cuts to any of the major entitlement programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, often carry steep political costs.

In a report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that only $381 billion in funding under the committee’s jurisdiction is for programs other than Medicaid and the related Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Achieving the goal of $880 billion in cuts would all but necessitate at least $500 billion in cuts to Medicaid.

Republicans have said that these cuts would be intended solely to root out fraud and abuse, but Democrats have said that benefits will be threatened by them.

Debt Ceiling

The resolution also has different instructions for the House and Senate regarding the debt ceiling.

Currently, the Treasury is relying on extraordinary measures to keep the government operating. The United States technically reached the debt ceiling in January. These measures are expected to keep the government funded until sometime in the summer, but Congress will need to act to prevent a default.

The Senate budget resolution instructs the House to raise the debt ceiling by as much as $4 trillion, while the Senate is instructed to raise it by $5 trillion.

Warning Signs

There are already some warning signs for the Senate proposal.

Debt ceiling raises have historically been unpopular with many Republicans. For several Republican lawmakers in both chambers, $5 trillion may be too much.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) indicated as much in a post on social media platform X, urging his followers to “call your congresspeople to say NO to $5T in new debt!”

In a written statement to The Epoch Times, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said that this provision will also be a red line for members of the powerful House Freedom Caucus, of which Norman is a member.

He wrote in all caps that the Senate plan was “dead on arrival” in the House.

“The 5 trillion is one part of the overall bill which I will not support nor will members of our Freedom Caucus support!” Norman said.

Republicans can spare only three defections in both chambers of Congress to move forward with the Senate’s compromise proposal.

If the GOP leadership can’t garner enough votes to move ahead, further negotiations between the two chambers will be necessary.