This morning, the House voted 216-214 to pass H.Con.Res.14. With the Senate's passage of the bill on Saturday by a vote of 51-48, the two chambers may now formally begin the budget reconciliation process to advance major parts of the Trump Administration agenda, with a goal to complete the process before June.
The resolution provides instructions for Congressional committees to advance portions of the package, which includes a permanent renewal of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act along with immigration and border security, energy and defense policies. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) agreed to seek at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to safety-net programs in the final package, along with a minimum of $4 billion in savings identified by committees that handle agriculture, nutrition and housing, energy, health, education, and labor policy.
The tax-reform portion would be accomplished through an accounting measure of “current policy baseline” where lawmakers reason that extending the current tax policies would not result in a change and therefore would not cause an additional loss of revenue to the federal government. The Senate parliamentarian would still need to rule on whether this is allowed in reconciliation under the Senate's rules; it is possible the parliamentarian will rule against this, which would significantly increase the cost of the reconciliation package.
The resolution calls for the Energy and Commerce Committee to identify $880 billion in reduced spending, potentially coming from changes to federal entitlement programs, which may include adding Medicaid work requirements, reducing funding for able-bodied adults, and implementing per-capita caps to states. An amendment in the Senate narrowly failed by a vote of 49-50, which would have struck these instructions; Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined with Democrats in supporting the amendment. Speaker Johnson has specifically said that the any House bill “will not cut benefits to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.”
Argentum is working with lawmakers to prevent deep cuts that would harm access to care, particularly seniors who are served through Medicaid assisted living waiver programs, and to advance our priorities wherever possible, including opportunities to expand access of assisted living to more seniors.
Next Steps: The committees will begin the process to draft the legislative text, which may take weeks or months to negotiate. These sections will then need to be advanced to the floor of each chamber and a final—and identical—legislative package passed by both chambers. Speaker Johnson is aiming to complete the full legislative process within the next two-months, sending a final bill to President Trump to be signed into law before June.
