The Senate’s recently released 2018 budget resolution, which was considered in committee this week, is set to be brought to the Senate floor sometime next week.The terms of the resolution allow up to $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade and foresees a balanced budget within 10 years, with the spending cuts required to achieve that remaining unspecified.
The resolution is a blueprint for federal revenues and spending for the 2018 fiscal year that began Sunday. It is a mandatory step for approving a tax bill using a special procedure known as reconciliation that shields it from a Democratic filibuster. Under the procedure, only 51 votes are required for passage, instead of the usual 60.
In order to pass, both chambers of Congress will need to agree on a budget resolution for the 2018 fiscal year. The House Budget Committee approved its own budget resolution in July, with the full House voting 219-206 to approve it Thursday, Oct. 5.
The Senate resolution instructs the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee to develop a tax bill by November 13. It also instructs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and House Natural Resources Committee to draft legislation that would reduce the deficit by at least $1 billion over the next 10 years.
That clause is expected to allow Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling.
The House resolution calls for a $10 billion savings to be included from agricultural and nutrition programs. It further instructs $150 billion in reductions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, over the next 10 years. While such a reduction is not included in the Senate version, the Senate version assumes roughly $21 billion in savings to USDA farm programs over the next decade. This detail is not included in the House version.
Like the Senate version, the House resolution foresees a balanced budget by 2027.
Once the full Senate approves the resolution, the two chambers can work through the differences in conference, and then the House and Senate tax-writing committees would begin work on a tax bill before the November 13 deadline.
