Yesterday, in a 220-212 party-line vote, the House passed the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation blueprint, the same blueprint that was passed 2 weeks ago by the Senate.
The vote on the blueprint was delayed by a group of 10 moderate House Democrats who wanted an immediate vote on the Senate-approved bipartisan infrastructure bill before starting work on the more partisan reconciliation infrastructure package. Democratic leadership was able to strike a deal with the group to advance the budget reconciliation bill blueprint in exchange for a September 27 deadline for a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Yesterday’s vote paves the way for committees to start drafting the details of the budget framework into legislative text. House committees have already started to work on language, and are planning to hold markups on their sections of the bills in the coming weeks.
Potential Markup Dates
- September 2
- House Committee on Natural Resources
- House Committee on Oversight and Reform
- September 9
- House Committee on Small Business
- House Committee on Education and Labor
- House Committee on Veterans Affairs
- House Committee on Science, Space & Technology
- House Ways and Means Committee
- September 10
- House Committee on Agriculture
- House Ways and Means Committee
- House Committee on Homeland Security
- September 13
- House Committee on Financial Services
- House Committee on Energy and Commerce
- House Ways and Means Committee
- September 14
- House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
- House Ways and Means Committee
Next Steps
Attention now turns to House and Senate committees tasked with writing their portions of the package. They will hold markups in the coming weeks, with a September 15 deadline to submit their provisions to their respective chamber’s Budget Committees. The goal is to have a bill ready for a vote around the same time as the September 27 bipartisan infrastructure bill deadline.
With small Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, the next weeks and months will see a very delicate negotiation – Speaker Pelosi can only afford to lose three votes and Senate Majority Leader Schumer can’t afford to lose any. For instance, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have already voiced strong concerns about the $3.5 trillion price tag. This makes the overall timeframe tough to nail down. On Tuesday, Speaker Pelosi committed to passing the budget reconciliation bill by September 27. Later that day, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer tried to walk back that goal. “There’s no deadline,” he told a reporter, according to a Capitol Hill pool audio. “We’re gonna pass [reconciliation] whenever we pass it; October 1, October 10, October — we’re gonna pass it.” MBS will continue to monitor both the bills and provide updates as needed. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to Lucia Alonzo, Lucia.Alonzo@michaelbest.com.
