House Republican leaders and White House officials are coalescing around a roughly $80 billion policy package as they prepare for a final summer push to enact party-line budget reconciliation legislation.
House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said the bill would pump $67 billion into Pentagon programs and $11 billion to farm assistance, without including offsetting spending cuts. Three other people granted anonymity to describe the negotiations confirmed the outlines of the deal, which is also likely to include several billion dollars in election grants meant to replicate portions of the SAVE America Act that President Donald Trump is pushing for.
The lack of offsets threatens to enrage GOP fiscal hawks, who want at least the agriculture portion of the bill to be paid for. But in a nod to those fiscal concerns, the farm aid portion of the bill shrunk from earlier discussions of as much as $20 billion.
Speaker Mike Johnson declined to get into specifics about the bill but said he was focused on “building consensus one step at a time.” Several meetings of key GOP officials took place through the day Tuesday, including one at the White House that Johnson, Rogers and other key Republicans attended.
The $67 billion defense request is roughly what the White House asked for in a recent emergency supplemental funding package but falls well short of the $350 billion military infusion Trump has called for.
The House Budget Committee has set a Thursday morning markup of the fiscal blueprint that launches the budget reconciliation process. Under panel rules, that blueprint would have to be released no later than 10 a.m. Wednesday.
“We’re going through a number of different ideas, and we’ll reveal the details when when they’re ready to be revealed publicly,” Johnson said. “But right now, it’s member-to-member, and the White House is directly engaged, and we’re grateful for that because it’s a team effort.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters the budget framework could come to the floor next week if it clears the Budget Committee Thursday. He said the annual defense policy bill, which GOP leaders hoped to advance last month until an intraparty rebellion derailed that plan, could also return to the floor next week.
Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.
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