WASHINGTON — Alabama’s Republican House lawmakers lent their support Wednesday to a $95 billion budget blueprint to boost funding for the Pentagon, farmers and voting restrictions.
Republicans’ third party-line bill this year aims to bolster defense funding in the wake of the Iran war, provide relief to farmers and allocate money for a grant program to encourage states to implement portions of the SAVE America Act. The House narrowly adopted the resolution 216-214. All Democrats opposed it.
“In a perfect world we would want to go through the appropriations process, but I think we’re just in a situation where there’s no agreement from the Senate side,” U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, a senior appropriator, told Alabama Daily News. “So, I think we’re having to revert to it…sort of a desperate situation.”
The framework is just the first step in the reconciliation process, which allows Republicans to muscle through legislation without Democratic votes. The Senate will also have to pass an identical budget resolution, which is expected to be difficult, before committees can start drafting their portions of the package.
Republicans have used the process two other times this Congress, first to pass their massive tax and spending law last year and second to fund immigration enforcement and Border Patrol.
The blueprint outlines $60 billion for the Pentagon and $13 billion for intelligence programs. The defense money is well below President Donald Trump’s original request of $350 billion in reconciliation as part of his total $1.5 trillion defense budget proposal.
While House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers still wants to see more money directed toward the Pentagon, he acknowledged the budget resolution is a good start.
“This resolution unlocks $60 billion in critically needed supplemental funding to support the warfighter and ensure our military readiness,” Rogers, R-Saks, said on the House floor. “Without these funds, military training exercises will be canceled, maintenance of equipment, facilities, and weapon systems will be deferred, munitions procurement will be postponed, and the combat readiness of our armed forces will suffer.”
The framework does not include any offsets for the $95 billion in spending, yet nearly all fiscal hawks backed the resolution Wednesday. U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Birmingham, said he offered suggestions to White House Budget Director Russ Vought on how to find other ways to save, but declined to share specific ideas.
“We’re gonna address that later, I think,” Palmer told ADN.
During floor debate, the top House Democrat on the Budget Committee, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, called out Republicans for adding to the deficit under this resolution.
“Yes, that’s right, the same crowd that loves to cry crocodile tears about deficit and debt whenever there’s a president in the White House who’s a Democrat. Cumulatively now, they have added $5 trillion to our national debt, more than any other 18-month period in the history of Congress, and they’re about to add $100 billion more,” Boyle said.
The blueprint also includes $12 billion for agricultural assistance and $10 billion for election reform, as Republicans try every effort to advance Trump’s major legislative priority, the SAVE America Act.
“I can tell you right now that the overwhelming people that I represent in North Alabama believe that this Save America Act is essential to saving this country,” U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, told ADN.
Now, the Senate will have to adopt its own budget resolution before it reconciles it with the House’s framework. But that might take a while.
Some Senate Republicans want to see more money for defense and farmers in a blueprint while others insist budget offsets should be included in the measure. Plus, the SAVE America Act is also unlikely to have enough Republican support in the Senate to advance the election reform measures.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the Senate could wait until after government funding is settled before taking up a reconciliation bill.
The upper chamber plans to vote on a short-term spending patch for the next fiscal year before it leaves for its August recess. But lawmakers in the House and Senate won’t be back in session at the same time until mid-September.
Thune also said the House’s budget resolution could be used as a vehicle to fund the government through reconciliation if no bipartisan consensus is reached on government funding.