House Rules Committee clears Senate amendment to FY2025 budget resolution after heated debate over Medicaid, tax baseline and tariffs

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday voted to make the Senate amendment to H.Con.Res.14— the fiscal year 2025 budget resolution—eligible for House consideration, after a lengthy hearing that focused on whether the reconciliation process will lock in large tax cuts, require deep Medicaid savings and defer a congressional vote on newly issued tariffs.

The committee approved a rule to consider the Senate amendment and a motion that the House concur in the Senate amendment; the final motion to report the rule passed by recorded vote, 9 yeas to 3 nays. Opponents pressed repeatedly for explicit protections for Medicaid and for a floor vote on the president’s new tariffs; both proposals were rejected in committee votes.

Why it matters: The rule paves the way for the reconciliation process that will be used to write tax and mandatory-spending changes for FY2025. Committee members said the structure of the budget resolution—particularly whether it uses a “current policy” scoring baseline—will determine whether forthcoming legislation enshrines permanent tax cuts without commensurate offsets and whether the effort will require substantial reductions to Medicaid benefits or eligibility.

Most of the hearing featured the chairman of the House Budget Committee and the panel’s ranking member testifying and then answering members’ questions. Chairman Arrington told the committee the House budget resolution “locked in lower taxes for hardworking families” and, in his view, established enforceable spending-reduction floors. Arrington repeatedly urged reconciliation to follow the House framework, saying that without enforceable offsets the nation would “add trillions of dollars to the national debt.”

Representative James McGovern, the Rules Committee ranking member, delivered the sharpest critique from the Democratic side. “This budget steals from the poor to give to…