House Republicans to write $95bn bill to fund Iran war and aid farmers

GOP-controlled chamber paves way for reconciliation bill, while making long-shot attempt at new voting restrictions

House Republicans on Wednesday agreed to begin the process of writing a $95bn bill to fund the war with Iran as well as provide new aid to farmers, while making a long-shot attempt to impose new restrictions on voting nationwide.

In a virtually party-line 216-214, the Republican-controlled chamber passed a budget resolution that paves the way for the creation of a reconciliation bill, which can advance through the Senate under special rules that circumvent the Democratic filibuster and requires only a simple majority to pass. Two Republicans – Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, as well as Kevin Kiley, an independent of California who aligns with the GOP – joined all Democrats in opposing the measure.

The resolution’s passage comes amid an intensification of the conflict with Iran, which Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, told the Senate on Tuesday had thus far cost $37.5bn . The Trump administration last month asked Congress to authorize approximately $88bn in supplemental funding, the majority of which – up to $67.1bn – will go to pay for the war.

The budget resolution passed by the House largely answers that call by authorizing the armed services committee to propose $60bn in spending for the fiscal years through 2036, and the intelligence committee an additional $13bn. The $73bn sum is expected to go towards military operations against Iran.

The agriculture committee has been allocated $12bn in spending changes, which it is expected to propose using on measures to help farmers rocked by the global effects of the conflict with Iran, as well as Trump’s tariff regimen against major trading partners.

The House administration committee, which counts federal elections in its jurisdiction, is authorized to propose spending $10bn, and will likely use that to attempt to pass the Save America Act into law. The measure, championed by Donald Trump, would ban mail-in ballots nationwide and impose enhanced strict identification requirements on voters when they cast ballots and register.

But legislation seeking to advance through the Senate under the rules of budget reconciliation can only deal with spending, revenue and the debt limit, making it likely that the Save America Act’s policy changes will be stripped out when the chamber takes up the measure.

Mike Johnson nodded to that fact on Tuesday, when he told reporters the goal of the bill was to pass the Save America Act into law “as much of that as possible”.

“As always, Republicans support our troops, our farmers and election integrity and we will demonstrate that again this week,” the Republican House speaker said.

The budget resolution is the third attempt Republicans have made in Trump’s second term to use the party-line reconciliation procedure to enact their agenda. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act , passed last year, was a reconciliation bill, as was the measure the GOP approved last month that funded agencies involved in Trump’s mass deportation campaign through the remainder of his term.

Democrats blasted the budget proposal, with Hakeem Jeffries saying before the vote: “President Trump and Republicans in this House continue to act indifferent to the economic wellbeing of the American people and to actively do things that are hurting everyday Americans financially, like this reckless and costly war of choice.”

“Republican extremists apparently have money for wars, but can’t feed the poor,” the House minority leader added.

The House’s approval of the resolution came two days before the chamber recesses until the end of August. But John Thune, the Senate’s Republican majority leader, signaled no urgency in passing the blueprint.

At a press conference on Tuesday, he said he would “hold” the measure in case negotiations with Democrats on funding the government break down before the 30 September deadline. If that happens, Thune said, the Senate could repurpose it to pass a stopgap funding measure along party lines.

Even if that scenario were avoided, the budget resolution could face headwinds in the Senate Republican conference, where some lawmakers have blanched because it does not bring total defense spending to the $1.5tn the Trump administration has requested for the 2027 fiscal year. Others have objected to the lack of offsets to the new spending the bill will approve, amid the US’s rising debt load.