Breaking Update--House Passes Budget in Narrow 216-214 vote. Big Spending Cuts and Big Tax Cuts for the Rich are Coming.
The House just passed a budget with promised $1.5 trillion in federal budget cuts and enormous tax cuts that will overwhelmingly benefit multimillionaires and corporations.
NOTE—throw today’s earlier information on the federal budget from The Cocklebur into your computer’s trashcan. I spoke too soon. My bad. Here’s an update.
The U.S. House of Representatives quickly brought to the floor and passed the continuing resolution on the federal budget today (April 10, 2025). Unlike earlier in the week, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) was able to convince nearly all Republicans to support the framework passed last week in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) met with House members and promised that $1.5 trillion in cuts could be negotiated during the coming conference committee. Conference committees require House and Senate budget negotiators to finalize differences between each chamber’s version of the same legislation.
The budget measure passed 216-214. Two Republicans, Representative Victoria Spartz (R-IN) and Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), joined all Democrats opposing the budget bill.
It is not clear at this point what the conference committee results will be. The details will be revealed later. The House and Senate will determine the final tax and spending levels by agency and program in relevant committee debates in coming months.
Two things are known:
Big spending cuts are coming for programs that rural people and rural communities count on.
Enormous tax cuts are coming—tax cuts that will increase the federal debt by many trillions of dollars while rigging the tax code to further benefit multi-millionaires and corporations.
The Cocklebur covers rural policy and politics from a progressive point-of-view. Our work focuses on a tangled rural political reality of dishonest debate, economic and racial disparities, corporate power over our democracy, and disinformation peddled by conservative media outlets. We aim to use facts, data, and science to inform our point-of-view. We wear our complicated love/WTF relationship with rural America on our sleeve.
When will this madness stop?