{"id":139483,"date":"2026-07-16T15:34:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/house-republicans-95-billion-iran-war-package-clears-first-hurdle\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:36:22","slug":"house-republicans-95-billion-iran-war-package-clears-first-hurdle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/house-republicans-95-billion-iran-war-package-clears-first-hurdle\/","title":{"rendered":"House Republicans’ $95 billion Iran war package clears first hurdle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"House
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, center, speaks with an aide during a markup on the Fiscal Year 2027 spending plan, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/span>(AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Republicans on the House Budget Committee advanced a $95 billion package<\/a> Thursday for the Iran war, farm aid and President Donald Trump’s<\/a> push for strict new voter ID requirements, moving forward on a party-line vote despite trouble in the full House \u2014 and the Senate.<\/p>\n

Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington framed the proposal as one last push to deliver for voters ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. It advanced on a vote of 20-14.<\/p>\n

“We are rallying to finish what we started when the American people sent us here,\u201d said Arrington, R-Texas.<\/p>\n

With Iran war funding making up the bulk of the package, some $60 billion, Arrington acknowledged that people can debate \u201cwhy we’re there\u201d in the overseas conflict. But he said the money is needed for basic supplies \u2014 “just the bombs, bullets and battlefield readiness for our men and women in uniform to finish the fight successfully and return home safely \u2014 that\u2019s it.”<\/p>\n

The resolution, which sets out instructions for the various congressional committees to draw up proposals, also calls for $13 billion for Intelligence, $12 billion for Agriculture, and $10 billion for Administration, which handles voting and elections.<\/p>\n

Speaker Johnson goes it alone, trying to push past Democrats<\/strong><\/p>\n

The proposal is the third budget reconciliation package Republicans in control of Congress have put forward this session to steamroll Trump’s priorities past Democratic objections using a legislative procedure that allows for simple majority votes for passage.<\/p>\n

It’s the same process House Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> used to pass Trump’s big tax cuts bill<\/a> last year and to advance Homeland Security money after Democrats refused to fund the department<\/a> following the deaths of Americans<\/a> protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Johnson is pushing the effort almost single-handedly, without full backing from his slim House Republican majority or the Senate. He held lengthy meetings with Trump this week at the White House and hosted a private session for Republicans at the president’s Camp David retreat to hash out details.<\/p>\n

But the 47-page package remains a long-shot effort \u2014 too meager for some, too costly for others \u2014 ahead of voting in the full House expected next week.<\/p>\n

Key Republican Rep. Chip Roy, an influential member of the Freedom Caucus who has expressed reservations about the package, did not vote at the Budget Committee session, as his home state of Texas deals with flooding.<\/p>\n

Democrats argue Americans are paying for Trump’s plans<\/strong><\/p>\n

Democrats are ready to vote against the proposal, as they did Thursday during committee action.<\/p>\n

Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, said the document, some 6,500 words, never once mentions the issue that’s top of mind for many Americans: affordability.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople know this is a failed presidency, and a failed Republican majority,\u201d Boyle said.<\/p>\n

Democrats offered more than a dozen amendments to the package during the hourslong Budget Committee session and raised questions about how the new spending will ultimately be paid for \u2014 either via budget cuts to other programs or by piling onto the nation’s debt.<\/p>\n

Boyle offered an amendment to reverse healthcare cuts from the Republicans’ big tax breaks bill. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., sought to reinstate funding for food stamps under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., suggested funding for immigration enforcement at Department of Homeland Security could be used to offset costs elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, blamed the high costs of living on the Iran war and said every time Americans open their refrigerators or go to the gas pump they are \u201cpaying for a war that should never have been started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate pans House plan, leaving next steps uncertain<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next steps are highly volatile, as the House holds a rare Saturday pro forma session, which is a largely administrative meeting that will allow the resolution to be filed in time for consideration next week.<\/p>\n

Johnson can only lose a few detractors on his side of the aisle as he relies on Republicans only, without Democrats, for passage.<\/p>\n

But the resolution would also have to be agreed on by the Senate, and Republican senators have largely panned the House effort, waiting to see if Johnson can heave it to passage.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said senators have \u201ca lot of questions\u201d about it \u2013 from defense hawks concerned about the military to deficit hawks who want to offset costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very uneven path,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what the House can execute on,\u201d he said, but \u201cI can\u2019t make any guarantees over here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who is expected to take over the Senate Budget Committee after the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, has been a leading budget hawk concerned about the nation’s rising deficits.<\/p>\n

The House plans to have its committees work on bill text over the August recess and bring the whole package back to the floor for a final vote in the fall.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., center, joined by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, left, listens during a markup on the Fiscal Year 2027 spending plan, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/span>(AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"House
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, right, speaks with Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking member, during a markup on the Fiscal Year 2027 spending plan, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/span>(AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, center, speaks with an aide during a markup on the Fiscal Year 2027 spending plan, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)(AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite) WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Republicans on the House Budget Committee advanced a $95 billion package Thursday for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-139483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139483"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139498,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139483\/revisions\/139498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139483"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=139483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}