Key facts
- A Republican-controlled House committee unveiled a $95 billion spending package.
- The package includes $73 billion for defense and intelligence operations over 10 years.
- $10 billion is allocated to incentivize states to implement portions of Trump's SAVE America Act voter ID legislation.
- $12 billion is designated for agriculture programs.
- House leaders aim to pass the budget resolution next week and use reconciliation to bypass Senate opposition.
A Republican-controlled committee in the U.S. House of Representatives has unveiled a $95 billion spending package, aiming to fund defense and intelligence operations, incentivize states to adopt parts of President Donald Trump's voter ID legislation, and support agriculture programs.
The 47-page budget resolution, slated for consideration by the House Budget Committee, proposes $73 billion for defense and intelligence over 10 years, $10 billion for voter ID initiatives under Trump's SAVE America Act, and $12 billion for agriculture.
House leaders intend to pass the budget resolution and then use the budget reconciliation process to bypass potential Democratic opposition in the Senate. However, the viability of these measures in the Senate remains uncertain.
Previously, Republican hardliners, led by Representative Anna Paulina Luna, blocked a defense bill, demanding that Trump's voter ID legislation be attached. Speaker Mike Johnson's efforts to merge the defense bill with the SAVE America Act or attach it to a separate budget bill were rejected by these holdouts, who expressed concerns about the Senate's ability to pass such measures.
The SAVE America Act, as described, would mandate photo identification for federal elections and proof of U.S. citizenship for registration, while requiring states to submit voter registration rolls to the federal government. Trump also advocates for eliminating universal mail-in voting, a point of contention among some Republicans. Democrats and voting rights groups argue the legislation could disenfranchise voters and that noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare.