The Fight That Will Define This GOP Congress Is Happening Right Now

Piece by piece, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans are assembling President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.”

House committees have acted fast on their instructions laid out in the budget resolution, slashing or increasing spending to deliver on the agenda that propelled Republicans to victory in the November elections. Nevertheless, the biggest fights, on taxes and major spending cuts, lie ahead.

Seven of the 11 House committees given instructions have passed their portion of the mega-bill out of committee—despite Democrats trying to undermine the reconciliation package via amendments. 

The House Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Armed Services committees received instructions to increase spending to deliver on Trump’s promises to secure the southern border and strengthen the American military.

The Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was permitted to increase expenditures by $110 billion. The bill provides $45 billion for detention funding, $8 billion for 10,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and staff, and $14 billion in transportation spending. The Judiciary Committee also added some measures to increase revenue, such as a $1,000 fee for asylum-seekers and a $3,500 fee for sponsors of undocumented children.

“The American people gave President Trump and House Republicans a mandate to restore immigration integrity, security, and enforcement, and President Trump is carrying out what he told he was gonna do,” Jordan said to open the markup. “The measures in our package are necessary to provide the resources to improve immigration enforcement and regulatory improvement.”

Meanwhile, instructions for the Homeland Security Committee, the other border-related committee, allowed a deficit increase by $90 billion. The bill that passed out of committee on April 29 would increase the deficit by $69.1 billion, but provides $46.5 billion for an advanced border barrier system, $5 billion for Customs and Border Protection facilities, $4.1 billion for CBP personnel, and billions more in advanced search and surveillance technology.

“After hours of Democrat objections to common sense border security funding, Homeland Security Committee Republicans held the line to advance budget recommendations that provide Customs and Border Protection with the resources needed to continue President Trump’s success in securing our border for years to come,” Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., said in a press release.

The question remains, however, if the funding provided by these border-related committees will give the Trump administration the bandwidth to deport illegal migrants at requisite levels. Some projections suggest these resources will allow the administration to deport 1 million people per year, which is not enough to expel the illegal migrants President Joe Biden brought in during his four-year term.

The Armed Services Committee also passed its bill out of committee on April 29. While the committee was allotted $100 billion in spending, the bill clocked in at $150.3 billion. The bill provides $34 billion for shipbuilding, $25 billion for Trump’s missile defense system he coined the “Golden Dome,” and more.

Other committees were instructed to cut, and cut deep. 

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee, for example, delivered what could be a $51.6 billion cut. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, became a member to watch as the legislation progressed by voting with Democrats against the committee’s bill. Turner defended his vote, saying, “Making changes to pension benefits in the middle of unemployment is wrong.”

The Education and Workforce Committee also cut deep, slashing $351 billion despite a floor of $330 billion. Though the Financial Services Committee was instructed to cut just $1 billion, it made $5 billion in cuts instead.

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee came in under their $10 billion target, however, after the bill’s text was amended to get rid of a $20 vehicle registration fee and increase the electric vehicle fee to $250.

Though some of these markups and preceding negotiations were tense, these represent easy wins compared to what lies ahead.

The Agriculture Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee have been instructed to cut spending by $230 billion and $880 billion, respectively, and have yet to hold their markups. The same goes for the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over the tax cut and has been given a ceiling of $4.5 trillion in deficit creation.

While these three committees were anticipated to hold markups this week, at least the Energy and Commerce and the Ways and Means committees have delayed another week.

Nevertheless, Capitol Hill is abuzz with budget talks as lawmakers push to bring the reconciliation package to the floor before the Memorial Day recess, in line with Johnson’s goal.

Ways and Means members have added Tuesday and Thursday morning meetings to their schedule on top of their Wednesday lunch. A number of pressing questions persist for the group chaired by Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., such as how to scrap Biden’s clean energy credits. 

The biggest question, at least in terms of whipping votes, remains the state and local tax deduction. Moderates in the GOP conference, particularly those from high-tax blue states, are pushing for an increase in the $10,000 SALT cap.

To meet its $230 billion target, the Agriculture Committee is looking at reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Cuts will have to be deeper than $230 billion, however, as other farm bill measures could be deficit-inducing. And it remains an open question if SNAP cost-sharing with states will provide anywhere near the savings needed.

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee might envy their peers on the Agriculture Committee, however, because they have been instructed to find $880 billion in savings. 

Republicans have set their sights on Medicaid as the main saver, which costs the federal government about $600 billion per year. Proposals have included changing the percentage of funding that falls on the federal government’s tab and instituting per-capita caps. Regardless, Republicans are playing with fire.

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