The House is unlikely to bring its budget resolution — an important step in the planned tax reform — until October, according to a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
The House will not convene next week, and the following week is already packed legislatively, the spokesperson said, meaning that even once the resolution gains enough support, it is unlikely to see a vote until early October.
House Budget Chairman Diane Black (R-Tenn.) had hoped to bring the bill to the floor for passage this week, but a whip count found that conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus were still holding out.
The Freedom Caucus members have demanded greater detail on the upcoming tax reform, and without their votes, the budget is unlikely to pass.
{mosads}Black, who is running for governor of Tennessee and mulling resigning her Congressional seat once the budget is passed, has spent months rallying votes for the resolution.
She is now pushing to bring the resolution to the floor, hoping that the no votes will flip to yes when members are faced with the prospect of destroying tax reform efforts.
By early October, the subject could be moot; House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said that the administration’s plans for the reform would be released on Sept. 25. Conservatives could then decide that the policy proposal meets their standards, or use the budget resolution to try and force changes.
The resolution will be key to opening up the reconciliation process, which would allow Republicans to pass the reform with a simple majority — and no Democratic support — in the Senate.
Meanwhile, despite the lack of a budget resolution, the House completed passage of all 12 appropriations bills Thursday in what amounts to a $1.2 trillion spending package.
The Senate, on the other hand, is stalled on its own budget resolution, which has not yet been marked up in committee. It has passed 10 of its 12 spending bills in committee, though none has been ushered through the full Senate. The Senate Appropriations Committee will likely take up the final two bills the last week of September.
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