House Budget Committee Begins Reconciliation Process
By Hugh T. Ferguson, NASFAA Managing Editor
The House Budget Committee adopted a budget resolution on Thursday that would direct the House Committee on Education and Workforce to find $330 billion in spending cuts over a 10-year period.
The resolution serves as the first step of the reconciliation process, which allows Congress to advance budget-related legislation by simple majority votes in each chamber.
During Thursday’s committee markup, members approved the budget resolution by a party-line vote of 21-16 after an extensive amendment process. Two Republican proposals — concerning tax cuts and rulemaking authority — were ultimately adopted.
Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), chairman of the House Budget Committee, said that the resolution served as a critical first step in advancing President Donald Trump’s fiscal agenda.
“The resolution passed out of Committee today is a blueprint to right-size the bloated federal bureaucracy, rein-in the reckless spending that spurred record inflation, and roll back the barrage of burdensome regulations that are crushing our small businesses,” Arrington said.
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Education and Workforce committee, said the resolution would prioritize tax cuts at the expense of educational programs.
“This budget will mean that kids and seniors will go hungry, and employers will not be able to find the skilled workers they need,” Scott said. “And it will make it more expensive for students to go to college. In addition to these cuts, the budget will also cut health care coverage for millions of Americans, all to extend tax cuts for the top 1% and corporations.”
It is unclear when the package will head to the House floor, where Republicans will try to agree to the resolution to begin drafting spending levels that will allow committees to develop a tax cut of $4.5 trillion over a decade, while also coming up with $1.5 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending.
House Republicans will also need the Senate to advance their resolution and then come to an agreement to pass a reconciled final bill with specific spending levels that can be cleared for the president’s signature.
Meanwhile, the Senate is considering its own budget resolution focusing on issues related to the border, energy, and defense policy, with plans to work on a tax policy bill later this year.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he wants to enact the legislation sometime around Memorial Day, which remains a very ambitious timeline that could easily slip into the summer.
Publication Date: 2/18/2025
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