House Passes Budget Resolution 217-215, Launching Reconciliation for Trump's Agenda
On the evening of February 25, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., passed the Republican fiscal year 2025 budget resolution (H.Con.Res.14) by a vote of 217 to 215. The resolution, introduced by House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, launched the budget reconciliation process for President Donald Trump's tax, border, energy and defense agenda. Legislation moved through reconciliation can pass the Senate by a simple majority, without the 60 votes ordinarily required.
Among Republicans, only Representative Thomas Massie voted no, while Democrats voted against the resolution unanimously. Before the vote, Speaker Mike Johnson worked to win over undecided members of his party, and Trump also lobbied by phone. That evening, the House at one point announced the vote would be postponed, then reversed course and passed the resolution. "We got it done," Johnson said after the vote, according to the Associated Press.
The resolution set a ten-year framework. It reserved up to $4.5 trillion in deficit room for tax cuts, conditioned on committees achieving at least $2 trillion in spending cuts, with the Ways and Means Committee's net deficit increase capped at $4.5 trillion. It required committees to cut spending by at least $1.5 trillion over ten years, with a target of $2 trillion; the Energy and Commerce Committee was directed to cut at least $880 billion. The resolution also raised the debt limit by $4 trillion.
The Senate had already passed its own, narrower budget resolution (S.Con.Res.7) on February 21, 2025, by a vote of 52 to 48. The Senate version did not include tax cuts, and the differences between the two chambers' versions would have to be reconciled in the steps that follow.
A budget resolution does not itself have the force of law and does not directly set appropriations. It establishes the budget framework and the instructions given to committees, under which subsequent legislation proceeds.
(Source: U.S. Congress)
Source: U.S. Congress
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国会大厦西侧与格兰特纪念雕像（Mike Peel 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0）。 / Photo: The west side of the U.S. Capitol with the Grant Memorial in Washington, D.C. (by Mike Peel, CC BY-SA 4.0).
