House moves forward with $3.5 trillion budget resolution
The House of Representatives has approved a 2022 budget resolution on a party-line vote of 220-212, the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association reported.
Approval of the budget resolution is the first step in the budget reconciliation process which directs legislative committees in the House and Senate to begin drafting a bill that could spend up to $3.5 trillion on legislative initiatives supported by President Biden and congressional Democrats.
In order to secure enough votes for the resolution in the House among moderate Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has agreed to hold a vote on the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill by Sept. 27, the NLBMDA said.
The budget resolution sets the top-line spending levels for each committee and includes a series of legislative recommendations for the committees to consider as they draft the bill.
Both House and Senate leaders are requesting that the committees examine provisions relating to climate change, housing, education, immigration, child care, health care, paid leave and other social programs.
To offset the cost of the legislation, Democrats have instructed the tax-writing committees to examine tax increases on individuals making over $400,000 per year and corporations.
The NLBMDA notes that these are just recommendations and it’s currently unclear which provisions will have enough support to be included in the final reconciliation bill. The actual bill is also expected to be more narrow in scope than the $3.5 trillion approved level.
As previously reported, NLBMDA is strongly opposed to any tax proposals that will negatively impact LBM dealers.
NLBMDA has been lobbying Capitol Hill for several months urging them to reject any of these proposals and reported that it has made “significant inroads” in the Senate.
Most recently, NLBMDA sent a follow-up letter to Congress last week urging them to reject tax increases on lumber and building material dealers.
Over the coming weeks as the committees draft implementing legislation, the NLBMDA said that it will be working directly with those committees to protect LBM dealers.
