President Donald J. Trump is meeting with Republican leaders today at the White House to hammer out details on his budget priorities. Senate Republicans have called for a two-part budget bill while the House GOP is pushing for a one-bill blueprint, exposing conflicting strategies within the conference on how to enact the president’s agenda. Senate Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) have proposed a two-step approach, starting with a smaller bill that would include money for President Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall and deportation plans, among other priorities. They later would pursue the more robust package of tax break extensions before a year-end deadline. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, announced late Wednesday that he was pushing ahead next week with hearings to kickstart the process. Graham’s first bill would total some $300 billion and include border money and a boost in defense spending, largely paid for with a rollback of Biden-era green energy programs which would give the Trump administration the money it needs to finish the wall, hire ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents to deport criminal illegal immigrants, and create more detention beds. The move by Graham comes days after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) was forced to delay his plan to mark up a budget resolution for a single Trump agenda bill amid deep disagreements over spending cuts. Despite the delay, Speaker Johnson is vowing to find a solution for moving one bill, brushing aside Graham’s move and refusing to give up on his preferred strategy. The delay was caused by a conservative revolt on the Budget Committee with hard-line Republicans balking at an initial budget resolution proposal that featured a $500 billion tax cut floor, with some pushing for overall cuts between $2 trillion and over $5 trillion. Speaker Johnson has been adamant that he wants to set floors, not ceilings, in the budget resolution because of the strict reconciliation rules. Heading back to the drawing board, House GOP lawmakers are eyeing a new framework that features $1.65 trillion in spending cuts and $1.65 trillion in new revenues that Republicans say will be the result of their tax cuts. Lawmakers are still discussing how to configure the tax portion of the package, with some floating extending the 2017 tax cuts by five years rather than 10 to lower the overall price tag.
Later Thursday, the Senate is expected to confirm Russ Vought’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) after the Senate voted along party lines to advance Vought’s nomination Democrats stayed in the chamber overnight to make the case against the Project 2025 architect overseeing the government’s budget and held the Senate floor all night long as they drag out the nomination debate on Russell Vought to its 30-hour maximum. The showy, if pointless, display is designed to signal deep Democratic unrest at Vought’s appointment at OMB following last week’s attempt to freeze all government grants and spending. Vought will nevertheless be confirmed once the Senate votes later today at 7 P.M.
The House will vote at 4:00 P.M. on H.R. 27 – HALT Fentanyl Act.
