On Wednesday, the House approved a Fiscal Year 2016 budget resolution, H. Con. Res. 27, by a 228-199 vote, with 17 Republicans voting in opposition. The pivotal vote for successful passage of a final version came minutes earlier, when House Republicans voted 219 to 208 to adopt a substitute amendment that increased the limit on war spending to $96 billion and removed a requirement that any of it to be offset, a rare voting strategy used by leadership to give conservatives a chance to vote on their priority, while also allowing a vote on an amendment that leadership and defense hawks needed for final passage.
The Republican-backed proposal cuts spending by $5.5 trillion while not raising taxes, balances the budget within 10 years, repeals Obamacare, and includes an extra $20 billion in military spending sought by defense hawks. The House had earlier defeated several alternative budget proposals, including one favored by deficit hawks.
On Thursday, the Senate remained focused on dispensing with amendments and passing the chamber’s budget resolution, S. Con. Res. 11. Senators entered the famed “vote-a-rama” by mid-day, starting a flurry of successive votes that will ultimately lead to final passage. Over 600 amendments have been filed thus far. The votes are purely symbolic but they can nevertheless be used to generate political momentum for an idea.
By a vote of 59-40, the Senate passed an amendment—introduced by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)—that would help restrict the scope of federal authority under the Clean Water Act’s definition of federal navigable waters, which require, for example, 404 permits for construction. As of publication, the Senate may also consider amendments to prohibit government-mandated project labor agreements—introduced by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.),—help ensure increased funding from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund is actually spent on Harbor Maintenance—introduced by Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), – and prevent increasing revenue (including gas taxes or other user fees) for the Highway Trust Fund – introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).
Following passage of a final measure in the Senate, Budget Committee and Leadership staff will begin to gather together on how to proceed to a formal conference on the two budgets during the week of April 13, when members of Congress return from a two-week congressional recess. The two resolutions must be combined and adopted by both chambers in identical form. To help keep track of filed amendments, the Republican Policy Committee has put a publicly-available amendment tracker on their website.
For more information, please contact Brian Lenihan at lenihanb@agc.org or (202) 547-4733. Return to Top