Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday, July 15, 2026, that a up-to-date budget reconciliation process would give Congress a way to change how elections work and provide more funding for defense. In this photo, Johnson answers reporters’ questions after holding a news conference on January 13, 2026. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives released their latest budget resolution on Wednesday. This is the first step in a long and complicated process that could allow Congress to pass a third-party bill.
The 47 page documentOnce approved by both chambers, the bill would send instructions to four House committees to draft legislation that would be bundled into a roughly $95 billion package.
- The Administrative Committee could allocate a maximum of $10 billion, likely to create a grant program for states that adopt voter identification requirements.
- The Agriculture Committee would not be allowed to spend more than $12 billion on farm subsidies.
- The Armed Services Committee could draft a bill that would give the Defense Department a maximum of $60 billion to cover increased costs related to the war with Iran and other military actions by the Trump administration.
- The Standing Committee on Intelligence could approve up to $13 billion in up-to-date spending.
Votes in the House of Representatives will take place next week
The House Budget Committee is scheduled to debate and vote on the budget resolution on Thursday. It is possible that this will be followed by a plenary debate and a vote to send the resolution to the Senate as early as next week.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could hold a vote on the budget resolution in that chamber before lawmakers go into August recess, although it was not immediately clear Wednesday whether there is enough support among Republican senators to approve the measure.
Thune was skeptical about using the party’s elaborate budget reconciliation process a third time enacted his “big, beautiful” law last year and offer $70 billion in additional immigration enforcement spending earlier this year.
The debate in the Senate over the budget resolution is significantly different from that in the House of Representatives. It requires a marathon vote on amendments that typically lasts overnight and creates hard votes for Republican senators facing re-election in November. In contrast, the debate in the House of Representatives is unlikely to include votes on amendments.
Elections and Defense
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., posted on social media shortly after the budget resolution was released that the reconciliation process would provide an opportunity for Congress to change how elections work and provide more funding for defense.
“Securing America’s elections and strengthening our national defense are the most fundamental tasks of Congress and are supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans,” Johnson wrote, before criticizing Democrats for voting against it The Republicans’ SAVE America Act.
It’s unlikely Republicans will be able to take up the full text of this bill, which would require Americans to show proof of citizenship to register to vote and present photo ID to vote the rules the budget reconciliation process.
Any provision of the package must have an impact on federal spending, revenue or debt that is not deemed “merely incidental” by the Senate parliamentarian.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., ranking member of the House Budget Committee, wrote in a statement that he planned to “fight like hell to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used to cut costs and improve the lives of American families, not to fund Trump’s gifts to billionaires and endless wars abroad.”
“Republicans have already made life worse for American families and added trillions to the national debt,” Boyle wrote. “Now this ‘America Last’ budget would add tens of billions to the national debt to finance the most unpopular war in American history.”
