The House Budget Committee unveiled a budget plan Tuesday for the next fiscal year that would cut $203 billion in mandatory spending and seek to balance the budget in a decade.
The resolution would also add work requirements for Medicaid recipients and set fast-track budget reconciliation instructions for deficit-neutral tax reform, a process that could allow the GOP to pass a tax bill through the Senate without fear of a Democratic filibuster.
The $1.132 trillion budget includes $621.5 billion for defense, a significant increase over both current levels and those proposed by President Trump. It contains $511 billion for nondefense discretionary spending, a cut from current spending but higher than Trump’s request.
It also includes $87 billion in spending for the global war on terror, though this funding is not subject to budget caps.
{mosads}The Budget panel says its blueprint would reduce the deficit by $15 billion in 2018 and projects that the deficit would turn into a $9 billion surplus by 2027.
“The status quo is unsustainable. A mounting national debt and lackluster economic growth will limit opportunity for people all across the country. But we don’t have to accept this reality,” Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black (R-Tenn.) said in a statement.
The budget, which has been in the works for months, assumes passage of the House’s plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare. But plans in the Senate to approve similar legislation appeared dead on Monday night after two more GOP senators announced their opposition to their party’s measure.
One key feature of the budget may be a disappointment to the administration: its growth estimates. While President Trump and his budget team have insisted that they will restore sustainable 3 percent economic growth, the House budget projects it will peak at 2.6 percent growth.
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