Congress begins looking for cuts

Congress’ “big, beautiful bill”—the one that is supposed to accomplish President Donald Trump’s vision of securing the border, restoring tax cuts, and more—comes with a big price tag. The plan calls for $4.5 trillion in new spending over the next 10 years, which Republicans say they will pay for by cutting at least $3.5 trillion from other parts of the budget.

The House GOP has two years to implement short-term changes, but the rest is up to future sessions of Congress. To start down that road, Republicans will spend the next few weeks negotiating and learning about the possible savings of which they might not yet be aware.

“We’ve sat down and looked at the landscape to make sure we know what the realm of the possible is,” said Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif.

Obernolte sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which must find $880 billion in spending reductions over 10 years under the plan. That boils down to reductions of almost $90 billion every year and marks the largest amount assigned to any one committee.

Asked if cuts like those are realistic, Republicans say they’re undaunted.

Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., is also on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He listed a few ideas off the top of his head when asked how his committee could get to that $880 billion figure.

“The area that is easiest to mention is sale of spectrum,” Benz said, referring to the federal government’s leasing of radio frequencies. “We sell spectrum on a lease. So, you have an auction. That’s anticipated to generate between $50 billion to $80 billion. It’s a great deal for us. So, there’s one. That immediately takes us down to $800 billion.”

The process will likely take months, Bentz said.

“A good example would be the hearing we had today on pharmacy benefit managers, because that space may have some savings in it—I don’t know,” Bentz said, referring to the companies that help negotiate drug prices. “We will continue to have those hearings literally every day, I think.”

Other members don’t think the budget plan calls for enough cuts. The plan would increase the federal deficit by upwards of $250 billion by the end of fiscal year 2025. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has blasted the budget framework as unrealistic because it leaves responsibility for the total savings of the 10-year plan to future sessions of Congress. The plan also assumes that economic growth will add to the government’s revenue.

“I’ve been here long enough—I’ve been here 12 years. I’ve seen a 10-year plan or two come all the way to 10 years. Anything past the third year never happens,” Massie said.

Bentz acknowledged that no foolproof way exists to tie the hands of future sessions of Congress.

“Obviously you put it in place as best you can in these two years. As these things are put in place, others who come along later are going to have to look at it and go, ‘Oh, this is not going to change easily,’” Bentz said.

House Republicans can only do so much to identify budget cuts until the plan passes in the Senate. The Senate passed its own version of a budget on Feb. 21.

“Now, the next step is the two chambers sit down, work something out,” Obernolte said.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., seriously considered voting against the House spending package last week out of concerns that Republicans wouldn’t be able to make their target cuts without digging into government benefit programs. She ended up voting in favor of its passage but said she’s waiting on final topline numbers to get a better sense of what the plan is from here.

“We’ve already done a lot of this homework on the different types of scenarios,” she said. “Now we just have to see what the exact toplines are and then we can plug in the holes.”

Malliotakis, who sits on the Budget Committee, added that House leaders have not divulged a timeline for when they might reach an agreement.