Standalone bills can be combined into one giant settlement bill, allowing GOPs to bypass the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Three U.S. House committees starting May 11 have advanced part of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful” government funding bill and implemented the MAGA agenda.
Since then, the House Avenue and Means Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Agriculture Committee have each voted for their own budget bills.
The bill passed by a partisan vote touches on loaded issues related to topics such as Medicaid, tax policy, and Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. Republicans have a top-line goal of at least $1 trillion in spending, but that’s easier said than done.
The standalone bill will be combined by Republican leaders to allow the GOP to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Methods and means of tax reduction
The House Way and the Means Committee, which primarily relates to federal revenue, advanced the bill overnight on May 13, crossing along the party line with 26-19 votes.
“Today’s committee meeting has finally brought relief to the point that working families, waitresses, nurses, farmers and Americans across all of the nations, by Biden’s 21% inflation tax for four years,” said Jason Smith (R-Mo.), chairman of the Means and Means Committee, in a statement before the markup hearing.
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“This bill delivers what Americans voted for: tax policies that put workers’ families first, kickstarting a new golden age of America’s prosperity and strength.”
The core elements of the law propose cutting by more than $4 trillion, and reducing spending by $1.5 trillion over a decade, permanently extending the low-income tax rates under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Employment Act.
The tax system will increase state and local tax credit limits from $10,000 to $30,000 for households with incomes under $400,000.
Democrats say the bill will be distorted towards wealthy Americans and will exacerbate the federal government’s financial position.
Under the bill, “Taxpayers making more than $1 million a year… will earn 310 times the average tax (that) taxpayers earning less than $50,000 a year (GET),” Lloyd Dogget (D-Texas)
The tax cuts are estimated to cost $3.7 trillion, according to the Joint Taxation Commission. It supports the $4 trillion target set by Congressional Republicans.
Medicaid
The House Energy and Commercial Committee approved the Medicaid changes with 30-24 votes on May 14 after a marathon session that lasted more than 26 hours.
The proposal cuts federal spending by $712 billion over a decade, making up the majority of $880 billion in cumulative spending cuts by 2034.
Republicans and Democrats painted very different photographs of how the proposed Medicaid impacts beneficiaries.
Republicans said reforms and necessary measures to expand the solvency of the $914 billion program by ensuring that only those entitled to Medicaid benefits are registered and paid through the program.
Democrats said the change will create barriers to registration and health care for low-income, disabled and seniors, and will deprive millions of low-income Americans of their health coverage.
Ranking member Frank Paron (DN.J.) said: “This is not a medium bill and it doesn’t focus on reducing ‘waste, fraud, abuse’. Instead, Republicans are deliberately depriving millions of Americans of health care, so they can give huge tax credits to the super-rich people who don’t need them. ”
Under the bill, healthy adults without dependents must complete the “Community Engagement Requirements” to maintain their Medicaid qualification. This means spending 80 hours a month on work, education, and volunteering services, or an average of 20 hours a week.
Enrollers in low-income programs should show that they are keeping up to their eligibility requirements twice a year rather than annually.
The bill also adds requirements to some Medicaid recipients to create more than 100% of federal poverty levels and pay certain out-of-pocket costs.
Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said of the bill:
Food Stamp Cut
The House Committee on Agriculture will oversee advanced laws that propose federal cuts to the SNAP program, commonly known as “food stamps.” After its own marathon hearing, over 24 hours, it oversees advanced laws that propose federal cuts to the SNAP program, commonly known as “food stamps.”
The panel passed the law strictly on a political party line 29-25 votes after a controversial hearing.
It will reduce SNAP reform spending by reducing the federal portion to 95% from fiscal 2028 and require the state to acquire 5% of the snap burden.
It also imposes new job requirements and limits eligibility to 90 days for healthy adults without work.
The committee was also ordered to find at least $230 billion in savings as part of a $1 trillion cut ordered by House leaders.
Republicans said the proposal would reduce national debt and bring snaps back to the original, narrower Congressional intent.
In his opening remarks in favor of the law, Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) said that the Agriculture Commission’s law “restores integrity” and “confirms that this critical program serves the most vulnerable functions as intended by Congress.”
Democrats were deeply critical of the proposed budget, with many comparing the bill to “Robin Hood, on the other hand.”
Ranking member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) said the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the requirements for the proposed document would result in 3 million people losing access to food aid, and that cuts would hurt millions of Americans.
“You don’t build your life in snaps. You build a bridge at the next opportunity, the next salary, the next moment of stability,” she said.
They also expressed concern that the law would have a wider and more negative impact on American agriculture.
Salt deduction
One major issue is that when the packages are together, the packaging is still threatening to derail. State and local tax credits (salt).
Salt allows voters to amortize state and local taxes for federal purposes, and has become popular in blue states such as New York and California.
The salt deduction is currently at $10,000, but Republicans in Democrat-controlled states like New York and California want to increase it.
The bill passed by the Houseways and Maan Committee will raise it to $30,000, but not enough for a group of Republicans in New York (including Elise Stefanik, Microler, Nick La Rota and Andrew Gerbarino).
Lawler previously told The Epoch Times that he was looking for a $100,000 salt cap.
Meanwhile, conservatives have criticised salt, claiming that GOP-led states are demanding subsidies to high-tax Democrat states.
With multiple Republicans unhappy with the issue, Johnson could struggle to pass the law with a full vote on the House floor.
