Budget Dominates Congress

Key Takeaways
  • President Trump and the White House were occupied with more DOGE-initiated cuts and dealing with the Russia-Ukraine war this week, but budget legislation was the focus in Congress.
  • With the House in recess, Senate Republicans moved forward by passing the first of two planned budget bills to fund Trump's agenda.
  • The House remains focused on passing one large budget bill, as the President would prefer, but it is unclear whether House Republicans can accomplish this.

This week, the Administration made news with more DOGE-initiated cuts to federal agencies and with the White House taking aim at Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Meanwhile, Congress remains focused on its role to push the President’s agenda via a budget bill.  While a budget resolution went before the Senate this week, and is scheduled for the House next week, the issue of a government shutdown on March 14 remains in the background.

This past week the Senate voted on its version of the first installment of what it envisions as a two-step process to enact President Trump’s agenda.  The House was on recess to allow its members to be back in their districts for the Presidents Day holiday, but the House returns next week for a vote on its “one big beautiful” budget resolution.

Congressional Republicans have a plan to use the budget reconciliation process to give the Administration funding for border and immigration enforcement, more money for defense, expanded energy development, and renewal of the 2017 tax cuts passed in the first Trump term.  The reconciliation process is the one budget tool that Congress has that is immune from a Senate filibuster and hence can pass the Senate with only Republican votes.

The first step in the reconciliation process is for both the House and Senate to agree on the broad framework in a budget resolution.  Once both chambers approve the same resolution, they can write the details on new funding and budget cuts in the Reconciliation Bill.  As has been widely reported, the House and Senate are not (yet) on the same page as to whether to pass one or two reconciliation bills.

This week President Trump weighed in, expressing support for one bill, but the Senate stuck with its two-bill approach as the House has yet to demonstrate that they can navigate their two-seat majority and pass the one big bill.  Next week, House Republicans will have to demonstrate that they can at least start the one-bill process and approve the first step, their version of a budget resolution.

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