Republican Study Committee’s new reconciliation package centers on affordability

Lawmakers within the conservative House Republican Study Committee released a framework proposal for a second reconciliation bill this year.

Led by Chairman August Pfluger of Texas, the 190-member committee aimed to create a package that would tackle the affordability issues Republicans are leaning into for the campaign.

A budget reconciliation bill aims to be “budget neutral” by offsetting spending increases with spending cuts or revenue hikes, usually through rules like the Senate’s Byrd Rule, which prohibits “extraneous” deficit-increasing provisions unless those measures are offset with revenue increases or spending cuts.

The Republicans tout their reconciliation bill from last year, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, for “delivering $140 billion in border security funding and comprehensive welfare reform.”

The Republican Study Committee’s framework for the second reconciliation proposal is composed of six guiding policies related to home ownership, health care and drug prices, energy costs and the price of gas, rebuilding the family, cutting wasteful government spending, and codifying President Trump’s executive orders.

“This blueprint cuts costs where families feel it most — housing, health care, and energy — slashes woke and wasteful spending, and locks in President Trump’s deregulatory agenda through the only process Democrats can’t block: reconciliation,” Mr. Pfluger said referencing the fact that a reconciliation bill in the Senate does not require 60 votes to advance to a final passage.

“We’re focused on results – lower prices, more freedom, and a stronger future for American families. We have 11 months of guaranteed majorities. We’re not wasting a single day,” he said.

House Republicans are calling for “incentivizing the sale of affordable homes, selling off underutilized government buildings, and enabling the free market to slash the cost of mortgages and down payments.”

They also say they can deliver better access to health care and lower drug prices by “redirecting subsidies away from big insurance companies and into the hands of the American people, eliminating regulatory barriers that increase the price of drugs, and promoting choice and competition.”

Additionally, the framework calls for speeding up permitting approvals, reducing the power of federal bureaucrats and giving regulatory certainty to U.S. energy producers.

House Republicans also say the American family can be rebuilt by abolishing marriage penalties, supporting stay-at-home parents and eliminating “radical” gender ideology.

The final policies GOP lawmakers in the House would like to focus on for a second reconciliation bill would be to continue to cut wasteful government spending and codify Mr. Trump’s executive orders.

It is unclear whether this reconciliation proposal has the full support of Republican leadership in both chambers.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, told reporters Tuesday that the Senate is not yet committed to doing a second reconciliation bill, although he noted they “reserve that option.”

“You have to have a reason to do it,” he said. “So we’ll be consulting with our colleagues in the House, with the White House, to determine whether or not there’s a rationale for moving forward with another reconciliation bill.” 

He said there was a “huge” reason to use reconciliation last year, as Republicans wanted to make Mr. Trump’s first-term tax cuts permanent.

— Lindsey McPherson contributed to this report.