House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced that Republicans have prepared a fourth budget reconciliation bill targeting government waste and misuse of federal funds. The bill aims to eliminate this waste and return the saved money to taxpayers.
Scalise, referencing the first party-line budget bill that President Donald Trump called a 'big, beautiful bill,' said, 'If you're a single waitress working three shifts at a restaurant, Democrats voted against you keeping your tip money... So they could give that money to fraudsters in Minnesota, who then send it to terrorist organizations.'
The Majority Leader said, 'This is crazy, but it was really happening. There's more. We want to root this out. That's why we're going to prepare another reconciliation bill focused on eliminating waste and fraud and giving that money back to taxpayers.'
Reconciliation process and previous bills
The budget reconciliation process allows the majority party in Congress to pass sweeping fiscal policy legislation by bypassing the Senate filibuster and sidelining Democrats. However, these bills must adhere to strict rules, such as not touching Social Security.
Republicans have so far enacted two reconciliation bills, one focused on Trump's tax priorities and the other on funding immigration operations. The party is currently working on a third package that would add about $95 billion to federal spending over the next decade.
This third package includes $73 billion for the U.S. war with Iran, $12 billion in aid for American farmers, and $10 billion for election security measures for states. However, some fiscal hawks are threatening to oppose the bill due to the lack of offsetting spending cuts.
Fourth bill introduced
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought introduced a fourth bill in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning to address these concerns. Scalise's remarks were the first public confirmation from House Republican leadership that such a bill was being prepared.
Scalise said, 'We want to move this forward as soon as we finish Reconciliation 3.0. While working on Reconciliation 2.0, we actually started shaping 3.0, but we waited until we passed 2.0. Then we immediately got to work on this latest reconciliation bill.'
