House Budget Committee markup ends without reporting reconciliation bill after partisan clash

The House Committee on the Budget met in a marathon markup to consider a fiscal-year-2025 reconciliation package — described repeatedly by Republican members as the “1 Big Beautiful Bill” and presented as the committee’s implementation vehicle for H.Con.Res.14 — but the panel did not move the measure to the House floor after a recorded vote of 16 ayes to 21 noes at the end of the session.

Chairman Arrington opened the session by describing the bill as the committee’s reconciliation product under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and saying the committee would report recommendations submitted by authorizing committees pursuant to Title 2 of H.Con.Res.14. “This reconciliation bill is the principal legislative vehicle for advancing the full America First agenda,” he said in opening remarks, urging members to advance the package without substantive revision.

Ranking Member Boyle said Democrats would oppose the bill, calling it “the biggest tax cuts for billionaires in American history” and citing a nonpartisan estimate that changes in the package would result in millions losing health coverage. “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just this week confirmed that at least 13,700,000 Americans will lose their health care if the GOP bill for billionaires becomes law,” Boyle said.

Republican vice chair Lloyd Smucker moved to order the bill reported favorably, but the committee’s final recorded tally at the end of the markup was 16 ayes and 21 noes, and the motion failed. Earlier in the markup the chair conducted multiple voice votes and announced several outcomes, but members on both sides requested recorded roll calls. Pursuant to a unanimous-consent agreement, roll-call requests on the motion to report and on several motions to instruct were postponed for an end-of-markup roll call; the subsequent roll call on reporting the bill returned a 16–21 result against reporting.

Why it mattered

The measure discussed at length would extend and make permanent many tax provisions dating to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and other prior packages, and it contains changes to mandatory programs, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Republicans framed the package as a combination of tax relief, regulatory rollbacks and mandatory program reforms that would reduce long-term debt-to-GDP ratios while preserving defense and border investments. Democrats argued the bill would hand large, permanent tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting benefits for low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities.

What happened in the markup

- Opening statements: Committee members spent most of the allotted opening time laying out their positions. Chairman Arrington and several Republican members framed the package as fiscally responsible and pro-growth; Democrats, led by Ranking Member Boyle and others, called it regressive and deficit-increasing.

- Motions to report and procedural posture: Vice Chairman Smucker formally moved that the committee “order reported” the reconciliation measure with the recommendation that it pass. The chair asked for voice votes on some motions and for recorded votes on several contested procedural matters; recorded roll-call votes were postponed per the agreed schedule. When the committee later conducted its required roll call on reporting, the final tally was 16 ayes and 21 noes.

- Motions to instruct: The committee entertained four nonbinding motions to instruct the chairman (each limited to 10 minutes of debate). Those motions were offered by members of the minority and addressed (1) striking provisions estimated to increase the number of uninsured (Representative Becca Balint), (2) implementing a higher top rate for millionaires (Representative Amo), (3) striking provisions estimated to reduce SNAP participation (Representative Morgan McGarvey), and (4) prohibiting a change in the scoring baseline that could undercount the cost of permanent tax changes (Representative Pramila Jayapal). On several of those motions the chair declared the “no”s to have it after voice votes and recorded-vote requests were entered and postponed; none of the four nonbinding motions were adopted during the markup.

Key claims and competing analyses

- Committee Republicans repeatedly said the package would deliver roughly $1.6 trillion in savings and reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio by about 10 percentage points compared with the CBO baseline used in committee planning.

- Democrats repeatedly cited CBO and other nonpartisan analyses that quantify potential coverage losses and program cuts in the legislation — for example, Democratic speakers cited a CBO figure that the proposals would result in about 13.7 million Americans losing health coverage and cited changes that Democrats say would remove roughly $715 billion from Medicaid and about $300 billion from SNAP. Democratic members also referenced third-party models (including the Penn Wharton model and analyses by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget) to argue the package increases deficits over a multi-decade horizon and disproportionately benefits the top 0.1 percent.

Quotes from the markup

- “This reconciliation bill is the principal legislative vehicle for advancing the full America First agenda,” Chairman Arrington said in opening remarks.

- “Every Democratic member will be voting no on the bill for billionaires,” Ranking Member Boyle said, citing CBO estimates of coverage losses.

- “When we pass this bill, we will prove that we can deliver substantial tax relief and meaningful spending reductions at the same time,” Vice Chairman Lloyd Smucker said while moving the motion to report.

- “Passing this budget means fewer residency programs to train our next generation of health care workers,” Representative Becca Balint said in offering a motion to strike provisions estimated to increase the uninsured.

- “This bill kicks 13,700,000 people off their health care,” Representative Pramila Jayapal said during debate on her motion about scoring baselines.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to order reported: motion offered by Vice Chairman Lloyd Smucker to report the reconciliation bill (the “1 Big Beautiful Bill Act”) with the recommendation that the bill do pass. Final recorded vote at the end of the markup: 16 ayes, 21 noes — motion failed.

- Motion to instruct (Balint): motion to strike bill sections estimated by CBO to increase the uninsured. Outcome at markup: rejected on voice vote (recorded vote requested and postponed).

- Motion to instruct (Amo): motion to instruct to raise the top income tax rate for millionaires (per President’s request). Outcome at markup: chair declared noes have it after voice vote; recorded vote requested and postponed.

- Motion to instruct (McGarvey): motion to strike provisions estimated to reduce SNAP participation. Outcome at markup: rejected on voice vote (recorded vote requested and postponed).

- Motion to instruct (Jayapal): motion to prohibit use of a current-policy baseline to estimate effects of future amendments. Outcome at markup: rejected on voice vote (recorded vote requested and postponed).

What’s next

Because the committee did not report the bill favorably, House floor action will depend on subsequent procedural steps and leadership decisions. Committee members on both sides reiterated that further negotiation would continue: Republicans said they would continue to press for the package as written or improved, while Democrats said they would oppose the package on the floor and in public messaging.

This markup included a broad debate over program integrity, the distributional effects of tax policy, and the limits of the Budget Committee’s authority under reconciliation. Members repeatedly referenced CBO scoring, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and H.Con.Res.14 when framing their arguments. The committee recessed after the final tally and announced a recess subject to the call of the chair.