The House will consider a budget resolution, a key for enacting some mandatory spending cuts and paving the way for tax reform, after the August recess, according to Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker (R-N.C.).
In a Tuesday meeting with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Ryan is said to have agreed to bring the bill to the floor on the first week of September.
In exchange, Walker agreed to withdraw an amendment to the spending “minibus” bill being considered this week, which would have required that all 12 spending bills be considered at once. GOP House leadership believes that amendment would kill the bill’s chance of passage.
{mosads}Ryan’s office did not confirm the date, but a source said it seemed unlikely the House would be ready to move the bill during the busy first week back from the August recess.
A senior Republican aide with knowledge of the meeting said the RSC would see failure to move the bill forward that week as a breach of trust.
“We were told there’d be a vote, so if there’s not that would be a reneging of the deal,” the source said.
The budget resolution faces opposition on two fronts within the Republican Party. Conservatives say the plan revs up discretionary spending without offsetting cuts on the mandatory side. Moderates are convinced that the effort is a waste of time, given that any final deal will need approval in the Senate, including from some Democrats.
While House Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black (R-Tenn.) had pushed for a vote on the resolution before the August recess, which the House will begin on Friday afternoon, the continued opposition from various Republican factions put it off.