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The House and Senate are back in Washington, D.C. after a two-week recess, budget reconciliation remains the primary focus for lawmakers in the House as President Trump closes in on his first 100 days of his second term this week.
Following both chambers' passage of an identical Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 14) in early April, the House will take action first with Committee markups as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has set a May 9 deadline for Committee chairs to complete their work. Speaker Johnson met with President Trump on the reconciliation bill at the White House earlier today as the lower chamber begins working on the president’s chief legislative priority on tax provisions, defense, border security, and energy policies. Numerous House committees will begin marking up their portions of the budget reconciliation package this week. Tomorrow, the House Armed Services, Education & Workforce, and Homeland Security Committees will hold their markups, while the Financial Services, Judiciary, Oversight & Government Reform, and Transportation & Infrastructure Committees plan to hold theirs on Wednesday. The Committees are releasing bill text for their portions of the budget reconciliation package ahead of each markup, with some doing so over the weekend. Currently, the House Armed Services, Oversight & Reform, Financial Services, and Education & Workforce Committees all released the text of their portion of the reconciliation at the time of this publication. As noted previously, given the House’s tight majority, House Republican leadership will need to iron out existing disagreements, including the total of spending cuts and what changes and cuts to Medicaid will look like. Over the two-week recess, House and Senate negotiators worked through differences in their plans, including the Senate’s permanent extension to the Trump 2017 tax cut and the higher $150 billion funding level for defense spending, higher than the $100 billion proposed in the House. Ultimately, Speaker Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) have an ambitious goal of sending the legislation to President Trump’s desk by Memorial Day, however, final passage of the package will likely occur in June or July.
The House will vote on 18 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act of 2025 (H.R. 2444), establishing a critical supply chain resiliency and crisis response program in the Department of Commerce, and to secure American leadership in deploying emerging technologies; the Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act (H.R. 1721), directing the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a study on the feasibility of manufacturing in the United States products for the critical infrastructure sector; the NTIA Reauthorization Act of 2025 (H.R. 2482), reauthorizing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in FYs 2025 and 2026; and the Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2025 (H.R. 2399), requiring the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting process for prospective applicants for high-cost universal service program funding. The House will also vote on five Congressional Review Act (CRA) disapproval resolutions nullifying Biden Administration rules including: a National Park Service rule relating to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area: Motor Vehicles (H.J. Res. 60); a Fish and Wildlife Service rule related to “Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status” (H.J. Res. 78) and three EPA rules on California’s vehicle and engine pollution control and emission standards (H.J. Res. 87); (H.J. Res. 88); and (H.J. Res. 89). The Senate will focus mainly on voting to confirm Trump administration ambassador nominees, including former senator David Perdue (R-GA) to be U.S. Ambassador to China, and may add additional CRA resolution votes to the floor agenda. Additionally, Kenneth Kies, President Trump’s pick to lead tax policy at the Department of Treasury with get a vote in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.
For the rest of the week, the House and Senate will hold several committee hearings, including: an Oversight and Accountability subcommittee hearing on “Made in the USA: Igniting the Industrial Renaissance of the United States;” an Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on “Assuring Abundant, Reliable American Energy to Power Innovation;” and a House Natural Resources Subcommittee hearing on “Advancing Federal Water and Hydropower Development: A Stakeholder Perspective.” The Senate will hold several hearings, including an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on “Building on the IIJA’s Successes: Identifying Opportunities to Strengthen Water Infrastructure Programs.”
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