House Budget Panel to Unveil Fiscal 2018 Budget Resolution

Release and markup of the House Budget Committee's Fiscal 2018 budget resolution is on tap this week, with the long-delayed markup set to take place Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET."This is a very, very important budget,” House Budget Chairwoman Diane Black, R-Tenn. said last week before the details had been worked out about the markup schedule. “It has a lot of moving parts to it, and we’re going to get it done."However, the $1.132 trillion top-line spending level Republicans are eyeing puts them on a collision course with the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA). Under the law, discretionary budget authority for Fiscal 2018 cannot exceed a $1.065 trillion cap. Even though the budget resolution will set forth a new top-line, it does not get signed by the president and does not have the force of law.The conservative House Freedom Caucus has already announced it is not willing to vote for the House budget resolution in its current form, a source told The Hill. That could spell trouble for Black who can afford only three Republican no votes and still be able to move the resolution out of committee.Freedom Caucus and House Budget Committee member Dave Brat, R-Va. confirmed to Bloomberg that he plans to vote against the budget at the Wednesday markup. Brat wants language in the budget preventing a tax code package that includes a Border Adjustment Tax (BAT) and language easing welfare cuts. Those details are not currently included and he does not have assurances from leaders on the issues either. "That’s why I’m not a happy camper right now," Brat said.Worse still, if the resolution does advance to the floor and the Freedom Caucus maintains its opposition, it could sink the measure. Republicans can only afford 22 no votes on the floor – with Democrats likely to all vote against the measure – and the Freedom Caucus has 31 members.Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have said any increase in the BCA's $549 billion cap on defense spending would need to be accompanied by an increase in the $516 billion limit for non-defense programs. Given that dynamic it appears more likely a stopgap spending bill – known as a continuing resolution (CR) – might be needed to avert a government shutdown when current funding lapses September 30.Even so, it is still possible that a bipartisan agreement to raise the BCA caps could be reached, averting the need for a stopgap or the risk of a shutdown. Appropriations bills will need at least 60 votes in the Senate, requiring support from at least eight Democrats or independents, to be enacted.