Markup of the 2025 Fiscal Year Budget Resolution

House Budget Committee
210 Cannon

02/13/2025 at 10:00AM

A hastily arranged full committee markup of the 2025 Fiscal Year budget resolution.

Progressive Caucus Center:

  • The House proposal makes room for massive tax cuts for corporations and the ultra-wealthy. The Senate’s proposal does not.
  • The House aims to spend a lot more than the Senate does ($4.8 trillion in the House vs. $521 billion in the Senate). Again, this is largely because of taxes.
  • The House’s proposed cuts are way bigger than the Senate’s ($1.5 trillion with a goal of $2 trillion in the House vs. at least $4 billion in the Senate).
  • The House wants to raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. The Senate’s proposal doesn’t touch the debt ceiling.
  • The budget directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to make at least $880 billion in cuts. This committee oversees Medicaid, the health insurer for more than 70 million Americans. Moreover, the resolution states, “it is the goal of this concurrent resolution to reduce mandatory spending by $2 trillion over the budget window.”
  • The House proposal tells the Agriculture Committee to find $230 billion in cuts. This committee oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), often called “food stamps”—a program that feeds more than 40 million Americans. Moreover, again, the resolution states, “it is the goal of this concurrent resolution to reduce mandatory spending by $2 trillion over the budget window.”

Council for a Responsible Budget: The budget resolution’s instructions include a net $3.3 trillion in allowable deficit increases – or nearly $4 trillion including interest in additional debt by 2034.

  • The budget resolution includes $3.3 trillion of net allowable deficit increases – from $4.8 trillion of deficit increases somewhat offset by $1.5 trillion of required savings – that, with interest, we estimate would allow nearly $4 trillion of additional debt. Passing a reconciliation bill consistent with these instructions would increase debt in 2034 (the last year of the budget) to 126 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to 117 percent under current law.
  • The budget’s economic assumptions are overly aggressive, and the ultimate direction of the economic effects is likely ambiguous; if they resulted in modestly positive economic feedback, we estimate debt would be 123 percent of GDP by 2034, or if they resulted in modestly negative feedback, we estimate debt would be 129 percent of GDP by 2034.
  • The window of the budget – FY 2025 through 2034 – includes one year where the TCJA doesn’t need to be extended (2025) and one less year of extension (2035) than a 2026-2035 budget would include, which could make the $4.8 trillion of tax cuts and spending increases in this budget window translate to $5.5-$6 trillion of ten-year increases.

Fierce Healthcare: The budget framework calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and increases the debt limit by $4 trillion. It also instructs the Energy and Commerce Committee to slash spending by $880 billion over 10 years, which is expected to include major Medicaid reform, and the Education and Workforce Committee to eliminate $330 billion in spending over 10 years.

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