House Budget chairman reveals how Republicans will pay for the Iran campaign

House Republicans are lurching forward with a second budget reconciliation package, ending months of speculation about whether the chamber would attempt to marshal a second GOP-only megabill through Congress before November’s midterm elections.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said Wednesday he wants the measure to pay for President Donald Trump’s Iran campaign and enact anti-fraud provisions that offset the cost of the anticipated defense infusion’s large price tag.

“It’s an opportunity to solve two problems and address two challenges and advance two great causes: fund the military, provide a strong defense, win the war, achieve the objectives and do it in a way that doesn’t put our kids further in the hole,” Arrington told reporters.

“We’re all but ready to mark up a budget resolution,” Arrington continued, adding his panel is still continuing to hash out the details of the package.

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The Trump administration has floated a $200 billion request to help pay for the war in Iran but has yet to deliver a formal request. Given Democrats’ expected opposition to a defense supplemental, some House Republicans have said a second reconciliation package is the only viable vehicle to advance the measure and other Trump priorities through Congress.

“Democrats have obstructed everything,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “So, we believe, unfortunately, that reconciliation is the only mechanism to move the rest of the President’s agenda.”

Republicans have zeroed in on fraud in social services for months and view the enactment of fraud-related spending cuts as a way to offset the cost of the package.

The budget reconciliation process would allow Republicans to circumvent the Senate’s 60-vote requirement and pass a spending measure with a simple majority. 

Arrington said he would be working closely with Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who also announced Wednesday that his panel would begin drafting reconciliation instructions. The South Carolina Republican floated funding increases for the military and law enforcement in addition to voter integrity measures as possible items in a second reconciliation bill.

“Let’s put it this way: The reconciliation train is leaving the station,” Graham posted on X after the two lawmakers met to discuss a second megabill Wednesday.

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Though Republicans are likely to broadly support defense supplemental funding and fraud-prevention measures, a second megabill could still face major hurdles.

Republicans narrowly passed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act in June 2025 after months of intraparty disagreement. Under House Republicans’ razor-thin majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can afford to spare just one GOP defection in a party-line vote. 

However, Arrington argued that the war in Iran would be a unifying force to get the bill done.

“I think funding our military in a time of war, if there’s no sense of urgency and accountability from members of Congress to support our commander in chief, I can’t think of one,” Arrington said. “I do think the big push is going to be supporting our sons and daughters in uniform and making sure they have what they need to be successful.”

Arrington did not shut the door on including parts of the SAVE America Act in a GOP-only megabill. However, its sweeping provisions, requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and voter ID requirements, could fail to meet reconciliation’s stringent budget requirements.

The Trump-backed election bill has stalled in the Senate due to widespread Democratic opposition, though the upper chamber is continuing to debate the measure.

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Johnson, who has long pushed for a second budget bill, said Wednesday he was encouraged by Graham moving forward with reconciliation.

“I’m glad to know the Senate is interested in reconciliation 2.0,” the speaker said. “I have been a broken record. We need to do that. It’s an important legislative tool.”