Members of the House GOP leadership and committee chairs released a statement on March 24 calling on the Senate to take up the House’s budget blueprint encompassing President Donald Trump’s agenda on taxes, energy, and the border.
“The House is determined to send the president one big, beautiful bill that secures our border, keeps taxes low for families and job creators, grows our economy, restores American energy dominance, brings back peace through strength, and makes government more efficient and more accountable to the American people,” they said.
This message comes as Congress returns from a week-long recess.
It was written by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.).
The House passed its budget resolution on Feb. 26. It proposes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion over two years. It also calls for $1.5 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years. Given the GOP’s narrow majority in the House, Johnson wants one, all-encompassing bill.
The Senate aims to pass Trump’s agenda through two reconciliation bills, with the first one approved by the Senate on Feb. 21. It includes increases of $175 billion in military spending and $150 billion for border security and calls for cutting the deficit by $4 trillion over a decade. The blueprint does not include tax cuts.
“The American people gave us a mandate and we must act on it,” the House statement said. “We encourage our Senate colleagues to take up the House budget resolution when they return to Washington.”
Democrats have criticized the GOP reconciliation blueprints for what they said is proposed cuts in Medicaid. Johnson has said that the entitlement program won’t be cut and that instead, waste, fraud, and abuse would be rooted out.
Reconciliation allows bills related to spending, taxes, and the national debt to pass Congress without having to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate that applies to most legislation. To unlock the reconciliation process, both the House and Senate must pass an identical budget resolution that tells committees how much to cut or add to the deficit over a decade.
Other members who signed the letter include House Agriculture Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), and House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.).
Additional committee chairmen who were behind the letter included House Finance Committee Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.), House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer (R-Ky.), House Transportation Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.), and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.).
“This is our opportunity to deliver what will be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in the history of our nation,“ the House GOP leadership and committee chairmen said. ”Working together, we will get it done.”
