Senate Republicans are falling in line behind Majority Leader John Thune’s bid to keep the budget reconciliation bill narrowly focused on ICE and Border Patrol funding.
But Republicans who wanted to address cost-of-living concerns are planning to use the marathon vote-a-ramas — the first of which could begin as soon as tonight — to vent their frustration.
Some GOP senators have also taken to confronting the White House directly as they look for legislative wins. As we scooped Tuesday, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) went on a tirade against a top White House official during the closed-door Senate GOP lunch meeting. Kennedy said President Donald Trump needs to get more involved to push a long-stalled housing bill over the finish line.
For their part, Democrats want to use the vote-a-rama to exploit those GOP divisions and zero in on affordability.
“We’re going to focus almost exclusively on the cost of living,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told us. “Vote-a-ramas are known for being sprawling and unpredictable affairs.”
But because the budget resolution only instructs the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, anything that falls outside those panels’ jurisdictions would require 60 votes. This could give vulnerable Senate Republicans cover to support some of the cost-of-living proposals, knowing that they won’t pass.
Still, Senate Democrats plan to push the issue. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will have an amendment aimed at blocking any bill “that does not lower out-of-pocket health care costs while Americans struggle to make ends meet.”
“Republicans are busy trying to fund a rogue police force, and Democrats are trying to lower your costs,” Schumer told us in an interview this week, summing up Democrats’ strategy.
On the GOP side. Republican amendments will target several different areas. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is expected to force a vote to extend the ban on Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, which expires July 4.
Kennedy said he’ll have amendments and has suggested at least one will be related to the SAVE America Act.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is still calling for a bigger reconciliation package, pressing for 10 years of ICE and Border Patrol funding and other priorities like indexing capital gains for inflation.
House tensions. Senate Republicans are hoping that by taking the initial steps on reconciliation, they can convince the House to take up the bipartisan DHS spending bill. The White House wants the House to pass it by the end of April. But it’s not clear how much reconciliation progress House Republicans will demand.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has been pitching House GOP leaders on attaching his Shutdown Fairness Act to the DHS funding bill as a way to sweeten the deal. This legislation would ensure that federal employees continue to get paid in the event of a future shutdown.
