House Approves Republican Budget

Legislative Update
April 10, 2014

By a narrow vote of 219-205, the House of Representatives today passed the Republican budget resolution, setting up a fight with the Democratic-controlled Senate.

The bill, H. Con. Res 96, establishes a budget for the government for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 and also sets budgetary levels for 2016 through 2024. The resolution stays within the $1.014 trillion base discretionary spending level for FY2015 spending that House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA.) negotiated last December.

No Democrats voted for the bill, and 12 Republicans joined them in voting against passage.

The resolution is opposed by Democrats for including $5.1 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years without closing any tax loopholes or other revenue-raising provisions, putting all the effort to reducing the deficit into spending cuts. In fact, the resolution also calls for large tax cuts, mostly geared towards wealthy Americans.

Senate Democrats are not expected to offer a budget resolution for FY 2015, which begins October 1, saying that the two-year spending agreement reached in December makes it unnecessary.

Some 40 percent of the $5.1 trillion in savings envisioned in the Republican plan is projected as a result of a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. In all, the plan would spend about $42.6 trillion over 10 years, compared with about $47.8 trillion under existing policies.