Senate Releases Compromise Budget Resolution

The Senate released a budget resolution on April 2 as part of a compromise with the House of Representatives, as Republicans look to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Both houses of Congress must pass an identical budget resolution to begin the process called budget reconciliation. This mechanism allows for measures related to taxing, spending, and the national debt to pass without facing the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate that applies to most legislation.

The new version follows weeks of negotiations between the House and the Senate.

It instructs both the House and Senate to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion over a decade and make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent.

However, the resolution also has different instructions for the House and Senate. It instructs the House to put forth a reconciliation bill that raises the debt ceiling by as much as $4 trillion, while for the Senate, it is $5 trillion.

The measure calls for the House to allocate $100 billion for defense, while it calls on the Senate to put forth $150 billion.

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The resolution instructs the House to put forth $90 billion toward homeland security, while it calls for the Senate to put forth $175 billion. The reconciliation bill is expected to include border security measures.

These differences would give the House and the Senate flexibility in proposing drafts of reconciliation bills. An identical one would need to pass both chambers to get to Trump’s desk.

In February, the House and Senate passed different budget resolutions.

The House version included instructions for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and for reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion—both over a decade. It also called for a $2 trillion increase in the debt ceiling.

The Senate version called for $175 billion for defense, $150 billion for border security, and reducing the deficit by $4 billion—all over 10 years. It did not include instructions for tax cuts.