Senate Republicans have kicked off their biggest gamble so far of the 119th Congress — beginning debate on a $300 billion-plus “skinny” budget resolution despite opposition from both Democrats and House Republicans.
By a 50-47 vote, Senate GOP leaders pushed through a motion on Tuesday night to start consideration of Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) resolution. The measure would authorize $340 billion in new Pentagon and border security money, including funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall between the United States and Mexico.
It would also make changes to federal energy policy while being fully offset by cuts in mandatory spending.
Senate Republicans have to pass the budget resolution to unlock Trump’s legislative agenda. Yet doing so allows Democrats to offer a slew of politically charged amendments on potential cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other social safety net programs and argue they finance tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. (More on this below.)
The Senate GOP budget plan would also require passage of a second reconciliation bill to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts, the president’s top legislative priority.
During a vote-a-rama later this week, Democratic senators can offer an unlimited number of amendments intended to force vulnerable senators to take politically difficult votes.
Top Senate Republicans insist they’re ready for this debate.
“We’re doing this to secure the border, unleash American energy and to make sure we have peace through strength,” said Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of the expected Democratic amendments.
“These are three things that were completely ignored by the Democrats, which is why they lost the presidency and why they lost the House and the Senate.”
However, House Republicans remain adamant that they want to do “one big, beautiful bill” rather than two. Speaker Mike Johnson and other senior House Republicans don’t believe they can pass two reconciliation bills given their razor-thin margin of control. Johnson took a shot at Senate Republicans on Tuesday, tweeting that the House GOP budget resolution “implements President Trump’s FULL America First agenda, not just parts of it with promises to come back later for the rest.”
Johnson has said he won’t put the Senate GOP resolution on the floor. And without approval from the House, Senate Republicans can’t actually enact any of the new funding they’re proposing.
We’ll also note that Trump said during a Fox News interview alongside mega-billionaire Elon Musk that Republicans wouldn’t touch Medicaid, in addition to repeating his assertion that Medicare and Social Security won’t be touched. But it would be nearly impossible to achieve the kinds of spending cuts Republicans need to achieve without cutting Medicaid.
News on Dems’ plans: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been on the receiving end of intense criticism over his strategy to counter Trump in the opening days of the new administration.
But those same critics — mostly outside progressive groups — have joined several calls with Schumer in recent days to lend support for the New York Democrat’s messaging plan for this week’s vote-a-rama. These calls have included leaders of the Center for American Progress, the AFL-CIO, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, among others.
Everything Democrats do during the vote-a-rama, Schumer told us in an interview Tuesday, is intended to advance their core argument that Republicans are seeking to give tax breaks to the richest Americans and force everyone else to pay the price.
“It’s a first step. It’s not going to change things overnight,” Schumer acknowledged of the Democratic efforts. “But, A, it’s going to put the Republicans in a very awkward position. B, if we keep hammering away at this issue, we will drive Trump’s numbers down.”
Democratic amendments will also center on some of the most controversial moves of Trump’s first four weeks in office. These range from DOGE and mass layoffs of federal workers, Musk, the OMB funding freeze, the firings of inspectors general and more.
Even though the GOP budget resolution is only for border security, defense spending and energy policy, the chief focus for Democrats will be on taxes and how extending tax cuts for wealthier Americans — which are a slice of the tax cuts up for renewal — will impact the rest of the country.
“This gives us direction, focus and some degree of real hope,” Schumer added.
Also: Thune told reporters that House Republicans’ budget resolution that calls for $4.5 trillion of room for spending on tax cuts “doesn’t allow for” the permanent extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts that he and fellow GOP senators are pushing for.
“That’ll have to be changed,” Thune said.
Without using a scoring option that would consider current policy extensions cost-free, it’s not politically feasible to lock in tax cuts beyond the next 10 years. As we’ve told you, disagreement on the tax instructions is part of why it’s not so simple for the House and Senate to align on a reconciliation strategy right now.
