Last night, the House Budget Committee voted 17-16 to advance the House GOP reconciliation bill to the House Rules Committee, which is expected to take up the bill later this week and make last-minute changes to it to reflect any compromises between deficit hawks and moderates. Four conservative lawmakers who opposed the bill in the Budget Committee on Friday—Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Josh Breechen (R-OK), Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Andrew Clyde (R-GA)—voted present on Sunday to allow the bill to move forward.
Following the vote in the Budget Committee, the House Freedom Caucus Board issued a statement saying that while “progress has been made” the bill “does not yet meet the moment.” The lawmakers explain that “the bill continues increased deficits in the near term with possible savings years down the road that may never materialize. Thanks to discussions over the weekend, the bill will be closer to the budget resolution framework we agreed upon in the House in April, but it fails to actually honor our promise to significantly correct the spending trajectory of the federal government and lead our nation towards a balanced budget.”