Overview
- House Republicans are assembling a third party-line reconciliation package built around housing, healthcare, and energy affordability with a broad crackdown on fraud, with leaders setting an end-of-July target for passage.
- White House legislative director James Braid said the administration wants national defense funding in the bill and signaled interest in securing a partial version of the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register and a voter ID at the polls.
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune questioned the timeline, pointing out that the second reconciliation bill focused on Homeland Security and Secret Service funding is still unfinished in a process that permits budget items to pass the Senate with a simple majority.
- Republicans are also crafting a reconciliation deal that could steer up to $70 billion to ICE and CBP, while a separate $1 billion request for Secret Service infrastructure drew criticism over alleged White House ballroom security spending that the White House disputes.
- The emerging plan borrows from a $1.6 trillion Republican Study Committee blueprint on affordability priorities, with anti-fraud proposals boosted by Vice President JD Vance’s task force shaping what GOP leaders hope can clear narrow margins before the midterms.