Senate GOP moves first to advance Trump priorities in race with House

Senate Republicans on Wednesday fired the opening salvo in the battle to implement President Trump's agenda by advancing a budget resolution focused on immigration and military priorities, putting House Republicans on the back foot as the two chambers race to control the process.

The Senate Budget Committee passed its resolution on a party-line, 11-10 vote. The resolution unlocks a process called budget reconciliation, which bypasses the Senate filibuster but will require near unanimity among GOP lawmakers in both chambers.

The Senate resolution would tee up consideration on the first part of its twin-track plan, focused on increasing border and defense spending. It would also give Republicans a key political win in the heart of Trump’s first 100 days while the party looks ahead to a tax fight later in the year.

The move, however, came as the House unveiled a resolution of its own to tee up what Trump has labeled “one big, beautiful bill,” which would combine border security and defense with an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. Senate Republicans are aiming to put the tax cuts in a more expansive bill later in the year.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday pointed to the difficulty of passing a single massive bill as he pitched his own two-step plan.

“If they can do one big, beautiful bill, I’m all for it. I’d prefer it. I hope it happens. However, if they can’t, then we need to get money into systems that are failing. It’s not me who says we’re running out of money. It’s Russ Vought. It’s not me who’s saying I can’t continue to do my job without the money. It’s Tom Homan,” Graham told reporters, referring to the director of the Office of Management and Budget and the “border czar,” respectively.

“I think the Speaker and our House colleagues need to listen to these guys,” he continued. “I can only do what I can do — and I can do this. I can start a process that will give the administration the money they need to secure the border and help the military.”

The discrepancies between the nascent GOP plans became increasingly clear when the House’s budget resolution was unveiled. The plan would allow for up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and sets a goal of cutting spending by $2 trillion.

But more glaring, the House Republican blueprint would devote only $110 billion to border and immigration policy compared to $175 billion in the Senate’ plan.

This rang alarm bells for Senate Republicans who were briefed on the current situation at the border by Homan during their weekly policy luncheon on Tuesday. According to members, Homan said they don’t need the money right away — but they need it soon, and it needs to be substantial.

“They’re not listening to the administration as to what they need,” Graham said. “Now it's not time to go on the cheap to secure the border. … They didn’t make up [$175 billion]. They have a reason for it.”

Some in the upper chamber also criticized the House resolution for not going far enough in the level of possible tax cuts.

“You see the budget number that [House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas)] just brought out of his committee, and it doesn’t even have enough in it to implement Trump’s tax policies. It defeats the point,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said. “Tax policy is the most important thing we can do for our economy.”

“There’s a lot of differences, but both chambers have to work the will, and we’ll find a common solution at some point,” he said.

Leaders on both sides are trying to do just that.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) huddled on Tuesday as the two sides attempt to get in lockstep on how to proceed in the immediate future.

However, the Senate could potentially leave the House in the dust.

The House is aiming to advance its own budget resolution out of committee on Thursday, but it’s unclear that it will have the votes. If it does, it would need to pick up support from almost the entire fractious and ideologically varied GOP conference if it reaches the floor.

Graham, meanwhile, told reporters that he is hopeful that the resolution will hit the floor next week while the House is out for a weeklong President’s Day recess.

Thune left that door open on Wednesday while he and Johnson try to get everyone working in unison.

“It’s a marker, and I think it sets some broad parameters, which can be built upon,” Thune said of the House budget resolution. “We’ll do our best to make sure that, as much as we can, we’ll be syncing up with the House.”

“There are different equities … in the House,” he said of the inability to coalesce behind a single plan. “They’re managing, as we are, people who have different ways of approaching this. Different ideas about how we ought to move forward. … In the end we have to find a path forward.”

The Speaker said in a statement of his own that the House’s nascent plan “reflects our collective commitment to enacting the President's full agenda — not just a part of it.”

“There will be ongoing debates and discussions in the coming weeks, and we remain focused on working through the process to deliver on our promises made to the American people,” he said. “There’s still much work to be done, but we are starting on the right path.”

Johnson and other House GOP leaders have maintained that the one-bill strategy is the most workable solution on their end given the narrow 218-215 margin in the chamber and that they can likely only get one mammoth reconciliation item across the finish line.

As for Trump, he has spoken highly of both plans and has indicated he prefers the best way of getting his priorities across the legislative finish line.

Lawmakers largely agree on that much.

“I always tell people the two most important numbers in this conversation are 218 and 51,” Thune said, referring to the votes needed in each chamber.

“Otherwise, the rest is conversation,” he added.

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