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Senate Republicans are so fed up with the GOP’s stalled legislative agenda that they are preparing to advance their party-line border and national security bill with no guarantee the House will sign off on it.
After deferring to House Republicans for a month in a painful standoff over the party’s tax and national security plans, the Senate Budget Committee is set to approve a budget by the end of the week despite hopes from the House that Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., might punt.
The budget resolution could even be on the Senate floor as soon as next week, according to senators and aides — though GOP leaders aren’t yet making timeline promises after the House’s messy deliberations spilled out in public over the past week. But one thing is clear after a weekend of discussions among House and Senate Republicans as well as President Donald Trump and his team: The Senate is done waiting for the House to make progress on a massive bill rolling together all of the party’s priorities.
And Graham said he told Speaker Mike Johnson as much on Sunday at the SuperBowl.
“I told him I’m a one-bill guy if he can deliver one bill. I’m not a wait around forever kind of guy,” Graham said on Monday evening.
The Senate’s budget resolution will set up roughly $175 billion in border security and $150 billion in defense money for a forthcoming party-line spending bill. Ultimately, the House will need to pass a version of the Senate’s budget and then the two chambers must agree on the subsequent bill via the budget reconciliation.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he believes Graham has rounded up the votes to push the resolution through committee. Then GOP leaders will have to win a floor vote and limit GOP defections to three or fewer senators.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said spending all that money can’t be financed with “fake pay-fors and it can’t be a shell game.” He also noted he couldn’t say yet whether he will ultimately support it.
“I’m not excited about spending $300 billion,” Paul told Semafor. “I’m skeptical and concerned that maybe some of the spending and pay-fors won’t be real.”
Republicans are sketching out plans to use new energy leases and perhaps some spending cuts to make the bill deficit neutral. But it will not touch Medicaid spending, according to a person familiar with party strategy. There’s also been some talk over looking at SNAP funding, though no decision has been made.
Once it clears Graham’s panel on Thursday, Republicans will need to devote a few days of floor time to the legislation — including an unlimited vote-a-rama on budget amendments. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said “we’re looking for windows and availability of floor time”; neither he nor Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., ruled out floor action next week.
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Aware of the obvious discord between the Senate and House, Johnson sought to tamp down the schism on Monday. He told reporters he spoke to Graham and there is “no daylight between us” even as he pursues a massive tax and national security bill that he reasons has a better chance of passing the narrowly divided chamber than the Senate’s border, then tax strategy.
Graham said Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and his border czar Tom Homan need the money now — and that once the administration makes explicitly clear to Congress it needs its money now, that will be a “game-changer.”
“There will be statements being made pretty soon here where it becomes obvious that we’re hitting a wall because of lack of funding. And I think the average Republican would be upset to hear that Trump doesn’t have the money he needs to do the plan he promised,” Graham said.
Still, some Republicans are questioning devoting ample energy to a budget resolution without an agreement with the House. Thune told Republicans at a private meeting last week the House has not yet agreed to take up the Senate’s legislation but that moving forward preserved “optionality” for Congress, according to an attendee.
“I can’t predict what the House will do,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Despite the private frustrations about the lack of progress among Senate Republicans, there’s little to be gained by publicly criticizing Johnson or his members. If the House can come up with a breakthrough in the next few days, the Senate GOP will almost certainly accept it.
“We’re happy to have the House move forward. But we want to try and move forward as well. I’ve always thought one big beautiful bill is going to be way too complex,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a member of the budget panel.
Notable
- House Republicans are looking at trillions of dollars in cuts, according to Punchbowl News.
- The Freedom Caucus also has its own plan, including raising the debt ceiling.