Following a failed attempt to pass the budget resolution in the House on April 9 due to concerns of some House Republicans about cuts in the Senate’s resolution, one day later, on April 10, the House passed by a narrow margin (216-214) the budget resolution that passed in the Senate five days earlier.

It is being reported that this group of fiscally conservative Republicans received assurances from both Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune that at least 1.5 trillion in spending cuts will occur as part of the reconciliation process.

In the reconciliation process, numbers that can reduce deficits (cut spending) are floors, not ceilings.

Now that the House and Senate have adopted the same budget resolution (resolutions do not need to be signed by the President), the budget reconciliation process can formally begin. The resolution has a May 9^th deadline for recommendations on policies to achieve the numbers in the instructions in the budget resolution, but this deadline is nonbinding.

LeadingAge remains concerned about the ability to achieve the level of savings outlined in the resolution without harming older adults and those who serve them. “Medicaid .. sustains long-term services and supports. The numbers in this budget resolution call for deep reductions in federal financing of the Medicaid program … such cuts would force states to make decisions that will severely limit older adults’ access to care …The current federal financing of Medicaid must be preserved,” said LeadingAge president and CEO Katie Smith Sloan in a statement. Read it in full here.

Stay up on the latest developments via our Budget Reconciliation 2025 serial post.