WASHINGTON – Republicans are expected to begin hammering out the details of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” as Congress returns to Washington after a two-week recess, with Alabama’s lawmakers sitting on key committees involved in the reconciliation process.
Before heading home for a state work period, the House narrowly passed its budget blueprint to extend tax cuts and slash spending, laying the groundwork for budget reconciliation, which allows the bill to pass with a simple majority in the Senate. Both the House and Senate are expected to cut at least $1.5 trillion to offset extending Trump’s tax cuts.
Committees are expected to begin markups this week to hash out their plans to hit the goals of spending cuts or boosts outlined in the budget resolution.
The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a markup on Tuesday to work out how it plans to boost spending for the border by up to $90 billion over the next decade. U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, sits on the committee.
One of the biggest tasks lies with the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid. The budget framework instructs the committee to cut at least $880 billion over the next decade. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Birmingham, is a member of the committee.
The budget plan doesn’t directly call for Medicaid cuts, but according to the Congressional Budget Office, the committee can’t hit $880 billion in cuts without touching Medicaid. Non-Medicaid and Medicare spending under the committee’s jurisdiction sits at just $581 billion.
House Democrats, including Alabama’s members, Reps. Terri Sewell, R-Birmingham, and Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, strongly oppose potential Medicaid cuts.
The budget resolution calls for the House Agriculture Committee to find at least $230 billion in cuts, which advocates warn could harm the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Reps. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, and Figures are on the committee. Moore has said he’s in favor of work requirements for social programs, while Figures has been vocal about his concerns for how cuts to the food assistance program could impact Alabamians.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, will oversee boosting defense spending. The House and Senate Armed Services committees are planning to invest $150 billion over the next 10 years toward defense priorities. The House committee will hold a markup on the budget legislation on Tuesday. The lawmakers’ plan includes $25 billion for the “Golden Dome” and $9 billion for improving servicemembers’ quality of life.
“Our defense industrial base has weakened,” Rogers said in a statement. “America’s deterrence is failing and without a generational investment in our national defense, we will lose the ability to defeat our adversaries. With this bill, we have the opportunity to get back on track and restore our national security and global leadership.”
The Ways and Means Committee is tasked with extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. Sewell, who sits on the committee, has called out the budget resolution for giving “tax cuts to the wealthy” while at the same time “taking away much-needed services.”
The Judiciary Committee, of which Moore is a member, is set to increase spending up to $110 billion to tackle immigration.
The House plans to have its reconciliation package on the floor for a vote the week of May 19, Punchbowl News reported. Speaker Mike Johnson has a goal of getting the package to President Donald Trump’s desk by Memorial Day.