House panel to mark up budget Wednesday after weeks of delay

The House Budget Committee, led by Chairwoman Diane Black (R-Tenn.), will mark up a 2018 budget resolution on Wednesday after weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations, delays and postponements.

The budget spends billions of dollars more on both defense and nondefense discretionary spending than President Trump proposed in his budget and cuts roughly $200 billion in mandatory spending in programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. 

The conservative House Freedom Caucus has pushed for higher mandatory cuts on the order of $400 billion and has demanded more information about the planned tax reforms before voting on the resolution. The caucus lacks the votes to block the budget from moving out of committee but could block passage on the House floor.

{mosads}At the same time, centrist Republicans worry that the deep cuts will complicate upcoming efforts at tax reform and note that Democratic support will be needed to avert a government shutdown in October.

Meanwhile, Republican leadership will use this week to gauge whether they have the votes in their caucus for combining all 12 of the 2018 appropriations bills — the last of which are slated to pass through the House Appropriations Committee this week — into one omnibus spending bill.