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The Legislative Update will pause while Congress is in recess and return on Monday, April 28.
The House and Senate are in recess for the next two weeks. Following both chambers' passage of an identical Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 14), upon returning, numerous House committees will begin marking up their portions of the budget reconciliation package.
Following the Senate’s overnight vote-a-rama on April 5, passing their version of the budget resolution by a vote of 51-48, the House narrowly passed it last Thursday by a vote of 216-214. Passage of the budget resolution allows for consideration of President Donald Trump’s main legislative vehicle for the administration’s key priorities, including tax provisions, defense, border security, and energy policies. A major negotiating piece that assisted with passage on the House side was Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-S.D.) agreement to the House’s higher floor spending cut, up to $1.5 trillion, which eased the concerns of many House Republicans. House Republicans will spend the Spring recess planning and preparing for markups of their reconciliation package upon the chamber’s return. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his leadership team will start marking up the package in three key authorizing committees: Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Armed Services. These committees hold jurisdiction over the package's defense and border security items. The budget resolution authorizes up to $110 billion in funding for the Judiciary Committee, $90 billion for the Homeland Security Committee, and $100 billion for the Armed Services Committee. The House will more than likely wait on the tax portion of the reconciliation legislation (in the Ways and Means Committee) as the cuts to spending present further negotiations needed within the House Republican Conference. Given the differences within the instructions in the budget resolution for the House and Senate committees, there is still significant work and compromise needed between House and Senate Republicans before final passage occurs in the coming months. All tax bills originate in the House, so the Senate will await the House’s action on the reconciliation package.
Earlier this month, House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) provided specific guidance for the chamber’s FY 2026 Community Project Funding (CPF; earmark) process. The House’s FY26 CPF guidance maintains the FY 2025 cap of 15 projects per member and plans to open the Member project portal on April 14. There are no considerable changes of note. CPF deadlines for Members range from May 2 to May 23. The Senate Appropriations Committee followed suit late last week with the release of its FY26 guidance for the Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) request submission process, instituting new changes to the process, including new project request limits for Senators based on an individual spending bill. Limits include 25 requests for Agriculture, Rural Development, and FDA; 35 requests for Commerce, Justice, and Science; 15 requests for Financial Services and General Government; 10 for Homeland Security; 40 requests for Interior and Environment; 80 requests for Labor, HHS, and Education; and 80 requests for Transportation and HUD. The Committee has a range of deadlines for members, from May 16 to June 4.
The fallout from President Trump’s tariff strategy has left markets in a state of uncertainty. Following the imposition of a flat 10 percent tariff on all imports, along with significantly higher retaliatory tariffs targeting dozens of countries—financial markets experienced a sharp downturn. However, last Wednesday, the president abruptly shifted course, issuing a 90-day temporary suspension on most tariffs, which triggered a swift market rebound. That same day, Trump escalated trade tensions with China by hiking tariffs on Chinese imports by 125 percent, adding to the 20 percent duty already imposed earlier this year on the world’s second-largest economy.
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