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GOP budget blueprint targets Iran war, farm aid and elections

Proposal falls short of the administration's defense reconciliation request

Speaker Mike Johnson, seen at a news conference Tuesday, hopes to bring the budget resolution to the floor next week.
Speaker Mike Johnson, seen at a news conference Tuesday, hopes to bring the budget resolution to the floor next week. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

House Republicans unveiled a fiscal 2027 budget resolution Wednesday that would lay the groundwork for a reconciliation package of up to $95 billion, mostly to finance the Iran war.

The resolution text would instruct four House committees to draft legislation by Sept. 11 designed to provide up to $73 billion in defense funding, along with $12 billion in farm aid. An additional $10 billion would be used to fund election security measures based on the so-called SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID at the polls.

The House Budget Committee is set to mark up the budget resolution Thursday morning.

The proposal comes nowhere close to the $350 billion reconciliation request sought by President Donald Trump to support a $1.5 trillion defense budget in the coming fiscal year, a roughly 42 percent increase over this year’s level.

And it makes no attempt to pay for any of the new spending with cuts to other programs, despite repeated talk by Republicans of using the reconciliation process to curb fraud, waste and abuse. Any attempt at large spending cuts could have raised concerns from GOP moderates in the run-up to the midterm elections.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who intends to bring the budget resolution to the House floor next week, can’t afford to lose more than a few GOP votes in his razor-thin majority, given united Democratic opposition to the partisan measure.

But Republican fiscal hawks are sure to protest the lack of spending cuts.

“My prediction? DOA,” said Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, in a post on X within minutes of the text release.

“Trust me, ‘bro, this is absolutely essential. Just not essential enough to pay for it honestly with spending prioritization or additional taxation,” Davidson said in another post. “We’ll just steal it with the most hidden and regressive tax — inflation.”

In an attempt to appease some conservative rebels, Johnson had made clear he would include at least parts of the SAVE America Act— one of Trump’s top priorities —in the reconciliation bill. The precise provisions — and whether they would satisfy the rebels —won’t be known until the House Administration Committee drafts its portion of the bill.

“Safeguarding American elections and strengthening our national defense are the most basic responsibilities of Congress and are supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans,” Johnson said in a statement on the budget resolution’s release.

The resolution gives four House committees instructions for drafting the reconciliation bill. The House Armed Services Committee is getting the largest spending target, at $60 billion, while a trio of other committees receive smaller allocations.

The House Intelligence Committee would receive a spending target of $13 billion, providing a total of up to $73 billion for defense-related funding when combined with the Armed Services allocation. The Agriculture Committee would be working with a target of $12 billion, while the Administration Committee would be up against a target of $10 billion.

Johnson is hoping to fast-track the reconciliation package, though extended recesses in August and October complicate the path to completing a third reconciliation bill before the midterm elections in November.

The Senate’s hesitancy toward a third reconciliation bill will also become an issue if the House is able to adopt the budget resolution.

If passed, the pending reconciliation package would mark the third such measure in this Congress, following last year’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending law and last spring’s immigration enforcement funding package.

Valerie Yurk contributed to this report.

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