House GOP finalizes tweaks to keep megabill on track in Senate
House Republicans have finalized changes to the party-line tax and spending package the chamber passed last month, to keep the bill in compliance with Senate rules.
An early copy of the amendment House Republicans plan to adopt this week, first obtained by POLITICO, would remove $2 billion for Pentagon military intelligence programs and strike policy that would have allowed mining in a protected wilderness in the Midwest, among other changes. By nixing items the Senate parliamentarian has flagged, the bill will retain its 'privilege' and has a chance at passing the Senate without having to overcome the filibuster.
House GOP leaders plan to adopt the tweaks on the floor Wednesday, according to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
So the House doesn't have to vote again on passage of the bill that was difficult to whip the first time, the changes will be adopted through a fast-track tactic. By approving a resolution this week to tee up floor debate on a separate bill, the House will be voting to amend the megabill before it is officially transmitted to the Senate.
The package of changes is a preemptive scrub of the House's "big, beautiful bill" before it heads to the Senate. House Republicans are particularly disappointed several key military spending provisions were flagged, but the tweaks were informed by conversations with Senate Republicans and the Senate parliamentarian, ahead of more vetting to make sure the measure follows other rules of the reconciliation process that allows the Senate to pass a bill at a simple-majority bar, bypassing the filibuster.
By striking the mining policy, Republicans opted to forgo a contentious provision that would have reversed the Biden administration's moves to bar mining near Minnesota's Boundary Waters wilderness, where a company called Twin Metals has long sought to mine copper and nickel. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
House Republicans also altered a move to clawback a SNAP benefit allowance tied to heating assistance, which Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) complained about in the House plan.
In the coming weeks, Senate Republicans will begin to receive "Byrd Bath" rulings from the Senate parliamentarian, flagging policies that don't work under the special rules. The most well-known type of violation is policies that don't have a direct impact on federal spending, revenue or the debt limit.
James Bikales and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
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