House Republican leaders are facing pressure from the clock and their own members over a $95 billion reconciliation framework that they are attempting to advance out of the Budget Committee on Thursday, raising questions about whether the package will make it out of the House, let alone to President Donald J. Trump’s desk. The budget framework released Wednesday outlines $73 billion for defense and intelligence funding, $12 billion for agriculture aid, and $10 billion for a fund to encourage Trump-backed voting restrictions. That is significantly scaled back from the sweeping bill — marrying a big boost in Pentagon funding with “anti-fraud” spending cuts — that GOP members and leaders had originally envisioned. President Trump had also originally sought much more for the military in a reconciliation package — $350 billion. Many members had been counting on an ambitious reconciliation 3.0 package when they rallied to support a “skinny” reconciliation 2.0 bill earlier this year that funded only immigration enforcement. They were anxious to make the most of their last remaining chance at pushing a GOP-only bill through Congress and snagging wins to take on the campaign trail before the midterm elections, like the swath of “affordability” measures pushed by the Republican Study Committee. If it is approved by the Budget Committee, it would become eligible for consideration in the full House, where Republicans hold a majority of 218 to 212 votes. It would then go to the committees to begin writing legislation.
Before leaving for the week, the House took up H.R. 9237 – Take Care of America’s Veterans Act.
For today, the Senate is taking up a Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #738 Kara Marie Westercamp, of Virginia, to be a Judge of the United States Court of International Trade as well as a Motion to proceed to Calendar #447 S.J.Res.198, disapproving the rule submitted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to “Medicare Program; Implementation of Prior Authorization for Select Services for the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction.
