The plan, to be marked up by the committee Feb. 12 and 13, assumes $342 billion over four years divided between border security, the Pentagon and Coast Guard: $175 billion for the border, $150 billion for defense and $17 billion for the Coast Guard.
The new funding would be fully paid-for, but how they do that specifically is up to the authorizing committees charged with drafting the implementing bill. Committees given instructions to come up with the offsets are given low targets — at least $1 billion — to provide them with maximum flexibility. But the expectation is those committees will exceed those targets.
Provisions to expand domestic energy production through making more areas available for oil and gas drilling has long been part of the plan. Graham on Friday also said the budget assumes repeal of the methane emissions fee on oil and gas producers that was enacted as part of the 2022 clean energy reconciliation package.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the methane fee will cost the industry about $6 billion over 10 years, so the Environment and Public Works panel would have to account for that cost in its reconciliation submission due next month.
Graham said the budget assumes the reconciliation package will provide funding to finish a southern border wall and upgrade border security technology, increase the number of detention beds for those who cross the border illegally, and expand staffing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol agents, attorneys who prosecute immigration-related offenses and immigration judges.
The funds provided for defense would go to expanding the Navy and strengthening the industrial base needed to build ships, developing an air and missile defense system and overhauling the nation’s nuclear defense.
The reconciliation instructions direct the following Senate committees to increase or reduce the deficit over 10 years in the following amounts:
Agriculture: Reduce deficit by at least $1 billion.
Armed Services: Increase deficit by no more than $150 billion.
Commerce: Increase deficit by no more than $20 billion.
Energy and Natural Resources: Reduce deficit by at least $1 billion.
Environment and Public Works: Increase deficit by no more than $1 billion.
Finance: Reduce deficit by at least $1 billion.
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions: Reduce deficit by at least $1 billion.
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Increase deficit by no more than $175 billion.*
Judiciary: Increase deficit by no more than $175 billion.*
*The two committees share jurisdiction on border and immigration policy and the total figure they will report out combined is $175 billion, not twice that amount.
Although the Senate blueprint is more of a “shell” budget to set the table for the initial reconciliation package, it does make some assumptions about the 10-year spending and revenue trajectory of the federal government.
The blueprint’s tables show an aggressive $11.5 trillion net spending reduction from the Congressional Budget Office’s most recent 10-year baseline. Coupled with $3.7 trillion in revenue losses from an eventual tax cut package, Graham’s resolution targets nearly $8 trillion in lower deficits over a decade.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will convene a full committee hearing titled “Nuuk and Cranny: Looking at the Arctic and Greenland’s Geostrategic Importance to U.S. Interests” on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 10:00 am EST. This hearing will examine the strategic significance of Greenland to the American economy and national security, focusing on the island’s cache of rare earth elements and U.S. research presence on the island, as well as the potential threats due to the growing influence of Russia and China in the Arctic.
Cruz:
“Acquiring Greenland would have enormous economic benefits for the United States. The island’s natural resources like rare earth elements would strengthen American supply chains and industries. The island’s strategic location in the Arctic would provide huge advantages in monitoring growing Russian and Chinese bellicosity in the region. I believe this hearing will show the growing geopolitical importance of Greenland and why it is in the U.S.’s best interest to explore potential opportunities for the territory.”
Witnesses:
Alexander B. Gray, Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs, American Foreign Policy Council
Anthony Marchese, Chairman, Texas Mineral Resources
Dr. Jennifer Mercer, Section Head for the Arctic Sciences Section at the Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation
Dr. Rebecca Pincus, Director of Polar Institute, Wilson Center
Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. EST, the Committee on Financial
Services will hold a hearing in Room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building titled
“The Federal Reserve’s Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report.”
Jerome H. Powell, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve Act, as amended by the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act
of 1978 (Humphrey-Hawkins Act), requires the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve (Federal Reserve) to present semi-annual reports and testimony to Congress. Each
report, named the Monetary Policy Report (MPR), contains discussions of the conduct of
monetary policy and economic developments and prospects for the future. The MPR
includes:
Statement on longer-fund goals and monetary policy strategy;
Recent economic and financial developments (domestic, financial, international);
Monetary policy discussion;
Summary of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) member economic projections; and
The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. ET. The hearing, “The Censorship-Industrial Complex,” will examine the Committee’s role in “uncovering the Biden-Harris Administration’s unconstitutional censorship campaign” and will examine upcoming threats to free speech including from AI and foreign governments.
This is a reprise of a similar 2023 hearing on the “Twitter Files”, an Elon Musk-directed attack on the Biden administration using archives from the Twitter databases he acquired with his purchase of the company.
Witness Michael Shellenberger is a notorious climate denier.
Witnesses:
Matt Taibbi, Twitter Files journalist; author; Founder, Racket News
Michael Shellenberger, Twitter Files journalist; CBR Chair of Politics, Censorship, and Free Speech, University of Austin; Founder, Public News
Rupa Subramanya, Canada-based journalist, The Free Press
Subcommittee hearing on the Department of Energy national laboratories.
Witnesses:
Dr. John Wagner, Director, Idaho National Laboratory
Dr. Thom Mason, Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Dr. Paul Kearns, Director, Argonne National Laboratory
Dr. Kimberly Budil, Director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren has sent letters to the heads of the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation requesting answers about the administration’s unconstitutional assault on federal science.
On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. ET in 2247 Rayburn House Office
Building, the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency will host a hearing titled
“The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud.”
Dawn Royal, Director, United Council on Welfare Fraud
Haywood “Woody” Talcove, Chief Executive Officer, LexisNexis Special Services Inc.
Stewart Whitson, Senior Director of Federal Affairs, Foundation for Government Accountability
Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Project on Government Oversight
The Government Accountability Office estimates that since 2003 the federal
government has made approximately $2.8 trillion in improper payments.
CRS reports that the error rate for the
School Lunch program decreased from 16.3% in FY2004 to 2.4% in FY2023, and the error rate
for the Pell Grant program declined from 4.9% in FY2008 to 2.8% in FY2023.
The error rate for FFS decreased from
10.1% in FY2004 to 7.4% in FY2023, and Part C’s error rate decreased from 10.6% in FY2008 to
6.0% in FY2023. Part D’s error rate increased from 3.2% in FY2011 to 3.7% in FY2023.
In FY2004, the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program reported an error rate of 6.6%, which steadily declined until it
reached 3.8% in FY2011. The error rate remained below 4.0% for five consecutive fiscal years,
then grew quickly, reaching 6.8% in FY2019 and 11.6% in FY2023. Similarly, the error rate for
the Children’s Health Insurance Program declined from 14.7% in FY2008 to 6.5% in FY2014,
and then increased steadily until reaching 15.8% in FY2019.
On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 10:00 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources will meet to consider:
H.R. 231 (Rep. Hageman), “Colorado River Basin System Conservation Extension Act of 2025”;
H.R. 249 (Rep. Pallone), To redesignate certain facilities at Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park in honor of Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr.;
H.R. 331 (Rep. Fulcher), To amend the Aquifer Recharge Flexibility Act to clarify a provision relating to conveyances for aquifer recharge purposes.
H.R. 618 (Rep. Horsford), To amend the Apex Project, Nevada Land Transfer and Authorization Act of 1989 to include the City of North Las Vegas and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association, and for other purposes.
H.R. 1001 (Rep. Hageman), To provide for a memorandum of understanding to address the impacts of a certain record of decision on the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund.
H.R. 1044 (Rep. Valadao), To amend Public Law 99-338 with respect to Kaweah Project permits.
H.R. 1110 (Rep. LaMalfa), “Grazing for Wildfire Risk Reduction Act”.
Any proposed amendments should be emailed to Sophia Varnasidis ([email protected]) no later
than 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. Note that all amendments filed by this time will be given
priority recognition at the meeting. Please email and deliver 70 hard copies of any amendments submitted
after the 12:00 p.m. deadline to 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
The oversight plan includes: “The Committee will also
work with federal agencies and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reduce
unnecessary spending, make the federal government more efficient, and ensure better stewardship
of taxpayer dollars.”
“To truly enter the 21st Century, the NPS should adopt more market-based
solutions and engage in public-private partnerships to maximize agency resources and enhance
visitor services.”
“On July 24, 2024, a group of U.S.-based non-profits
operating under the ‘Shut It Down for Palestine’ movement staged a violent anti-Israel riot at a
public gathering at Union Station in DC, a National Park Service site. The Committee will
continue to investigate and provide recommendations to improve the public gathering permitting
process for the National Park Service to improves the permitting process, and ensure it is not
abused by organizations that intend to cause violence and destruction. Additionally, the Committee
will continue to expose these organizations’ ties to foreign adversaries like the CCP, Iran, and
Hamas.”
“During the 118th Congress, the Committee investigated potential foreign
influence over domestic environmental and natural resources policies, particularly at DOI,
accomplished through a network of U.S.-based activist non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The Committee will continue identifying NGOs with ties to foreign adversaries such as the CCP
and Iran and prevent foreign influence over domestic natural resources policy.”
S. 298 - Returning SBA to Main Street Act, To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to relocate
30 percent of the employees assigned to headquarters to duty stations outside the Washington metropolitan area
S. 300, Disaster Loan Accountability and Reform Act, to improve accountability in the disaster loan program of the Small Business Administration
S. 371, SBA Disaster Transparency Act, to require certain reports on small business disaster assistance to be published on the website of the Small Business Administration
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Rules for the 119th Congress
Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee