House approves budget framework, kickstarting work on Trump’s domestic agenda

House Republicans have approved a multitrillion budget framework that allows the party to begin the process of drafting legislation to enact key elements of President Trump’s domestic policy agenda – including tax cuts and spending on defense, energy and immigration policy.

The budget blueprint was approved Thursday by a vote of 216 to 214. Ultimately, two Republicans voted no. The vote is a victory for Trump and other Republican leaders who spent days convincing fiscal hawks within the Republican party to vote for the bill despite their frustration over the level of spending cuts included in the Senate version of the plan that passed on Saturday. The Senate framework outlines only about $4 billion in spending cuts. The House version seeks at least $1.5 trillion.

Now that Republicans have passed identical versions of the framework in the House and Senate, they are able to unlock a special budget tool known as reconciliation – a complicated process that allows them to avoid a filibuster in Senate and pass a final version of the legislation with a 51-vote simple majority.

Budget framework passes after intraparty drama that is likely to persist

The final vote came after House GOP leaders delayed a scheduled vote Wednesday night because of dissent from conservative hardliners concerned that approving the Senate amendment would prevent them from achieving the level of spending cuts they want in the final bill.

The vote allows Congressional Republicans to unlock a budget tool called reconciliation, which enables the Senate to bypass a filibuster tied to Democratic opposition and instead pass the final bill with a simple majority. Both chambers passing the same budget resolution is just an early step in a lengthy process that will require intense negotiations from both chambers as they now get to work on the final legislative product.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., gave a brief press conference ahead of the House vote, emphasizing unity despite months of daylight between the chambers over the scope of spending cuts.

“Our two chambers are directly aligned also on a very important principle, and that is the principle of fiscal responsibility,” Johnson said. “We are committed to finding at least $1.5 trillion in savings for the American people while also preserving our essential programs.”

He added: “I’m very happy to have our our partners in the Senate working so closely with us as one team, one unified team, which is very important for us to deliver on all these objectives.”

Thune said they are aligned on making the 2017 tax cuts permanent and to secure significant spending cuts.

“We have got to do something to get the country on a more sustainable fiscal path,” he said. “The speaker’s talked about one and a half trillion dollars. We have a lot of United States senators who believe that as a minimum. And we’re certainly will do everything we can to be as aggressive as possible to see that we are serious about the matter, not only of making our federal government more fiscally sustainable, but also deficit reduction.”