House GOP Unveils $95 Billion Reconciliation Bill With No Spending Cuts, Some Members Say They Were Shut Out

House Republican leaders released the full text of their third reconciliation package this week, teeing up a floor vote leadership hopes to hold next week. The bill spends $95 billion with no cuts attached to pay for it, according to NOTUS and the Washington Post.

The package breaks into four titles. It sends $60 billion to the House Armed Services Committee for defense. It gives $13 billion to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for the Iran war and national security priorities. It puts $12 billion toward farm aid through the House Agriculture Committee. And it hands $10 billion to the House Administration Committee to fund the SAVE Act, the voter ID bill that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.

The Washington Post reported the measure as a budget resolution laying out top-line spending for the Pentagon and farmers, framing it primarily as a defense-and-agriculture bill. That framing leaves out the $10 billion SAVE Act line and the $13 billion Iran/intelligence title entirely, both of which NOTUS specified in its breakdown of the four titles. Those two pieces make up nearly a quarter of the package.

No Offsets, and Some Republicans Are Already Sour on That

The bill does not cut spending anywhere else to pay for the $95 billion, which NOTUS reported is sure to irritate House fiscal hawks. A House GOP leadership aide, granted anonymity to describe internal talks, told NOTUS the choice isn't between this bill and a balanced one. It's between this and a bigger, still-unpaid-for package Democrats would push if given the chance.

"It's not necessarily a choice between this and nothing," the aide said. "It's a choice between this and, you know, theoretically an even larger un-offset spending package."

Republicans control the House and can pass a lean, targeted bill on their own terms, or risk a messier, costlier outcome down the line if leverage shifts. But it's also an argument leadership is making to justify abandoning fiscal discipline that many of the same members campaigned on. Conservatives who've spent years demanding pay-fors for any new spending now have to decide whether "it could've been worse" is a good enough reason to vote yes.

The SAVE Act's Senate Problem Hasn't Gone Away

The SAVE Act passed the House previously but doesn't have the votes to clear the Senate as standalone legislation. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said repeatedly that Senate budget rules block the measure from moving through reconciliation, and that support in the upper chamber isn't there anyway, according to NOTUS.

House Republicans are betting that folding SAVE Act funding into this package, rather than passing it as its own bill, gives it a better shot. The same leadership aide said the shape of the resolution reflects direct back-and-forth between Speaker Mike Johnson, Thune, their staffs, and the White House, aimed at avoiding the "land mines" that sank earlier attempts.

Whether that's enough to survive the Senate parliamentarian's review under reconciliation rules, which restrict what can pass with a simple majority, is still an open question. Requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote is a mainstream position with broad public support, but reconciliation is built for budget matters, not election policy, and that mismatch is exactly what has tripped up the SAVE Act before.

Members Say They Got Frozen Out of the Process

White House officials hosted members of the House Budget Committee at Camp David to hash out administration priorities for the bill, but not everyone on the committee was invited, according to NOTUS.

That list of the excluded included two sitting House GOP leaders who also sit on Budget: Conference Secretary Erin Houchin of Indiana and Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore of Utah. Moore joked, "Guess I'm not important enough," when asked about missing the meeting.

Houchin was less lighthearted in Tuesday's closed-door conference meeting, telling colleagues she's now leaning against supporting the budget resolution because of how she was cut out, according to a source in the room who spoke to NOTUS. "I don't care if the meeting was held at IHOP, the entire Budget Committee should have been included," she reportedly said.

Oklahoma Rep. Stephanie Bice pressed Johnson directly on whether any women were invited to Camp David, according to a source in the room. Houchin later posted on X that she remains committed to a strong reconciliation bill on border security, defense, election integrity, and lowering costs, but said she has "serious concerns about the current framework as it's been proposed."

Johnson told members confronted about the exclusion that the Camp David session ran only a couple of hours, a source told NOTUS, though members later learned some attendees stayed overnight, which reportedly fueled more anger. A White House official told NOTUS that "additional engagements are planned to include more members" and that "there were limited spots for this engagement."

What Happens Next

Leadership needs nearly unanimous Republican support to pass reconciliation without Democratic votes, and right now at least one member of leadership is publicly wavering. Whether Johnson can close that gap before next week's planned vote, and whether the SAVE Act funding survives Senate reconciliation rules once it gets there, are the two questions that will decide if this $95 billion package becomes law or stalls out like its predecessor attempts.