Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is hoping the House can pass a bill unlocking a third Republican-only spending package before the week is out. The $95 billion budget framework made it out of the committee last week but GOP lawmakers in both the House and Senate have grumbled — especially fiscal hawks. They are concerned that there are no spending cuts to balance out a bill that sets aside $73 billion in new military spending, most of it earmarked to help pay for the war against Iran.
According to Politico, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., scolded his colleagues bothered by the lack of fiscal conservatism. “When did you ever pay for a war? A lot of this is military expenses aimed at that war,” Cole said before the bill’s markup Wednesday. “The point is that play’s been called. It’s time to put up or shut up.”
“When did you ever pay for a war? A lot of this is military expenses aimed at that war… The point is that play’s been called. It’s time to put up or shut up.”
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., chair of the House Appropriations Committee
There’s a lot to unpack in Cole’s admonition. First and foremost, his finger-wagging underscores the problematic message Republicans are sending ahead of the midterms: The country can’t afford to help the poor and needy — but there’s always more money for war, even pointless wars of choice such as the one President Donald Trump has waged against Tehran.
Look at what the GOP prioritized in the first two reconciliation bills. The most recent one funded immigration enforcement, making sure there was enough funding to break up communities, detain people with no criminal record and kick them out of the country as quickly as possible. The White House has framed this crackdown on immigration as part of a supposed “war” on the Southern border, and GOP lawmakers made damn sure to fund it.
Last year’s reconciliation bill, formerly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, focused on taking from the poor to give to the rich. Its tax cuts for the wealthy were paid for by slashing spending on food assistance, Medicaid and healthcare. Many of the harshest cuts in the bill were delayed and will take effect after the midterms or after Trump’s term ends. But even though the full brunt of its inhumanity has yet to be felt, Republican lawmakers have still struggled to use the law’s passage to boost their campaigns.
Cole is right that few, if any, Republicans in Congress have been around long enough to remember the last time Congress used something other than deficit spending to finance a war. During the wars America has started over the past two decades, neither party’s lawmakers have shown much interest in raising taxes or otherwise boosting revenue to offset increased military spending. Throwing more borrowed money at a conflict without considering the deficit has long been par for the course.
That dynamic has developed alongside a fundamental shift in how America decides to go to war. The Constitution gives the power to declare war to Congress and makes the president the commander in chief. Per the Constitution, the people who declare war pay for it. Cole’s declaration that “the play has been called” shows how that process has been inverted: The president starts a conflict on his own and leaves Congress scrambling to find the funding. Despite promising “no new wars,” Trump has leaned into this pattern. He’s demanded a total of $350 billion for defense spending be packed into this bill.
Pass or fail, this reconciliation bill is what the GOP has decided is its priority before the party asks voters to keep them in power in November.
There are already procedural problems with the budget bill’s progress. Johnson can’t lose more than two Republican votes, and his fiscal hawks are still riled up even after a push from Vice President JD Vance last week. If the holdouts get their way, Reconciliation 3.0’s success would leave vulnerable Republicans forced to defend both Trump’s war spending and billions in likely new cuts to federal assistance programs.
Johnson has also said that the Senate will pass the House’s version of the budget resolution before the August recess begins. Without matching budget resolutions in the House and Senate, reconciliation is dead in the water. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has made his skepticism known and incoming Senate Budget Chair Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is also insisting there be offsets in the bill to pay for new spending.
Pass or fail, this reconciliation bill is what the GOP has decided is its priority before the party asks voters to keep them in power in November. A bill that pays for a deeply unpopular war, sets aside money to help the farmers that have been hurt by this war and Trump’s tariffs and, if Trump has his way, makes it harder for Americans to vote. It will do nothing for Republican lawmakers facing questions about affordability, nothing about the real problems that their constituents face and nothing that shows any regard for their lives.
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