House to vote on budget next week

The House will vote on a 2018 budget resolution next week, House Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black (R-Tenn.) said on Thursday.

“It’s going to be next Thursday,” Black added, which would be the fifth day of the 2018 fiscal year.

Black, who is running for Tennessee governor, also said she plans to step down from the chairmanship and possibly vacate her seat in Congress after the resolution’s passage.

{mosads}Black said no decisions had yet been made when asked if she expected to stay on until the House and Senate conference their budgets.

“I’ve not determined exactly what will happen there, but we’ll let everybody know,” she said.

With spending deadlines pushed until December and House appropriations already passed, the budget’s main purpose is a vehicle to unlock reconciliation. Republicans want to use the process to pass tax reform and sidestep a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

Across the Capitol, the Senate Budget Committee is also expected to mark up its budget next week and vote on the resolution in the full Senate two weeks later, when senators return from a weeklong recess.