GOP rebels mutiny against House leaders as Trump budget bill talks hit impasseHouse Freedom Caucus pushing for 2-bill reconciliation plan
By Elizabeth Elkind Fox News
Published February 10, 2025 5:29pm EST
The hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus has released its own proposal to enact President Donald Trump's agenda via the budget reconciliation process.
The plan would pair a debt ceiling increase and increased border security funding with deep spending cuts through welfare work requirements and rollbacks on progressive Biden administration initiatives.
It's a sign that House GOP leaders have still not found consensus within the conference on a path forward, despite ambitious plans to get a bill through the chamber at the end of the month.
House and Senate Republicans are aiming to use their congressional majorities to pass a massive conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process.
By reducing the Senate's threshold for passage from one-third to a simple majority, where the House already operates, Republicans will be able to enact Trump's plans while entirely skirting Democratic opposition, provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters.
GOP lawmakers want to include a wide swath of Trump priorities from more funding for border security to eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages.
But fiscal hawks have also demanded the package be deficit-neutral or deficit-reducing. Congressional leaders can afford little dissent with their razor-thin majorities and guaranteed lack of Democratic support.
The Freedom Caucus's plan would follow through on conservatives' pleas for deep spending cuts, pairing $200 billion in annual new spending for the border and national defense with $486 billion in spending cuts for the same 10-year period.
It would also include a $4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling, something Trump demanded be part of Republicans' fiscal negotiations.
Spending cuts would be found in codifying rollbacks to the Biden administration's electric vehicle mandates and imposing Clinton administration-era work requirements for certain federal benefits, among other measures.
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