The U.S. House of Representatives is in session this week. Of particular note is the absence of a scheduled floor vote on the Fiscal Year 2025 budget reconciliation package—President Trump’s and the House Republican majority’s primary legislative initiative concerning tax and spending reforms.

On April 10, 2025, Congress adopted a concurrent budget resolution that included reconciliation instructions. These instructions authorized relevant House and Senate committees to draft legislation aligning with predetermined fiscal targets. Under the rules of budget reconciliation, the Senate may consider such legislation with a simple majority vote, thereby bypassing the 60-vote threshold typically required to overcome a filibuster.

For the reconciliation process to proceed, each House committee must submit legislation conforming to the resolution’s directives. Once committee reports are complete, the House must consolidate these into a single omnibus reconciliation bill for full chamber consideration. If passed, the bill would advance to the Senate under reconciliation procedures. Speaker Mike Johnson has expressed his intent to secure House passage before the Memorial Day recess, which begins at the end of this week.

On Friday, the House Budget Committee attempted to assemble and approve the consolidated reconciliation package but failed to do so by a vote of 16–21. Five Republican members opposed the measure, citing disagreements over provisions including expanded work requirements for Medicaid, the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, and provisions phasing out the Inflation Reduction Act.

Subsequently, the Budget Committee convened a rare late-night session on Sunday, during which the revised package was approved. Concessions made to win over Republican holdouts included:

  • Expanded Medicaid work requirements,

  • Elimination of green energy tax incentives from the Biden administration,

  • Termination of Medicaid benefits for undocumented immigrants.

The subsequent vote of the Budget Committee late Sunday night was 17-16, with 4 Republicans voting “present” so that the bill could be reported out. That didn’t mean the 4 switched votes had their problems solved, but it did mean they didn’t want to stop the process.

Now the legislation goes to the Rules Committee for a rules vote, whereafter the bill goes to the floor of the House for votes. Speaker Johnson wants to complete House work on the bill before Memorial Day. Republicans can only lose 2 votes to get this legislation completed, and there are more then 3 dozen Republicans with various issues.

The the Senate gets its turn, where we will look for more changes in this legislation.