The Republican-led House passed a $1.1 trillion 2018 budget plan on Thursday that will pave the way for tax reform, the party’s top legislative goal.
The GOP budget, dubbed the “Building a Better America Plan,” passed in a 219-206 vote Thursday after hours of debate over alternative budgets proposed by Democrats, conservatives, progressives, and other factions. Eighteen Republicans voted against it, along with every voting Democrat.
The GOP plan proposes spending nearly $622 billion on defense and $511 billion for domestic, non-entitlement spending. The plan allocates an additional $87 billion for the global war on terrorism.
While the budget is meant to determine spending limits for the next fiscal year, it is more of a GOP wish list. Final spending deals require Democratic support in the Senate, which means a bipartisan agreement will ultimately determine actual 2018 budget caps.
Still, Republicans noted the House spending proposal would balance the budget within 10 years, a goal long sought by the GOP. That would be achieved in part by budgeting $200 billion in entitlement cuts.
“Balancing the budget by 2027 is our top priority,” said House Budget Committee Chair Diane Black, R-Tenn. “For too long, both parties in Washington have failed to abide by a simple principle that all American families and small businesses do, that we must live within our means. Balancing the budget requires us to make some tough decisions but the consequences of inaction far outweigh any political risk we may face.”
Democrats said the GOP’s proposed spending cuts would devastate the needy.
“These aren’t just paper cuts,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. “These are huge, huge cuts that would cause enormous damage in the lives of our children, students, veterans and other Americans.”
While the two parties sparred over the contents of the budget, much of the debate centered on tax reform.
The GOP will hitch tax reform legislation to their budget resolution to enable the party to pass it under special rules requiring only 51 votes, which would circumvent a filibuster by the Democrats.
Republicans have not written tax reform legislation yet, but they released an outline of the plan last week. It calls for lowering the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, reducing most individual tax rates while expanding the child tax credit and eliminating some deductions, including the state and local tax deduction.
Democrats oppose the plan and argue some of the provisions, such as lowering the corporate tax rate and eliminating the estate tax, would benefit the wealthy while providing little to nothing for lower income earners.
“Who is this really going to help?” Rep John Yarmouth, D-Ky., said during the debate. “It’s not going to help the people that need the help. It’s going to give more money to the people who occupy one of the strongest economic positions in a country with the greatest disparity of wealth in the world.”
Republicans said their plan would help fix the tax code and lower rates in a way that will bolster economic growth.
“If you think the tax code as it exists today is a ridiculous compilation of confusing provisions stitched together by a patchwork of Congresses over the last 40 years, you can vote for fundamental reform,” Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga. said. “If you are tired of the fact that America used to be number one in the world in terms of tax competitiveness and now we are at the bottom of the list and you want to take America back to being number one, you can vote for that, too. I happen to put myself in that category.”
