The Senate on Thursday advanced its budget resolution, teeing up a weekend vote on a blueprint for President Donald J. Trump’s tax agenda and other top priorities. Senators voted 52-48 to kick off consideration of the measure and only a simple majority was needed. The resolution sets out instructions that both chambers will eventually use to craft a bill they hope to pass through a process called budget reconciliation, which bypasses the Senate filibuster. A budget plan adopted by both chambers is necessary to allow Republicans to write and pass a sweeping bill later this year to link an overhaul of the tax code to border, energy and defense policies. Only one Republican, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), voted against the resolution. All Democrats opposed it. The vote kicks off up to 50 hours of debate that will culminate in a marathon voting session of symbolic amendments, known as a vote-a-rama, before a final vote on adopting the budget resolution as late as Saturday. The resolution includes different sets of instructions for the Senate and House in a few key areas that could present additional challenges as the chambers work toward a compromise. The House instructions call for raising the debt limit by $4 trillion, while the Senate instructions detail a $5 trillion increase to the debt ceiling. Members of the upper chamber only need to find $4 billion dollars to cut, compared with $1.5 trillion in the House. Senate Republicans insist the $4 billion is only a floor for the cuts, but the number has outraged fiscal hawks in the House.
In response, Democrats are wielding new official projections showing the price tag for extending Republicans’ expiring tax cuts could reach a bigger-than-expected $4.6 trillion. And if Republicans decide not to pay for any of that, it would mean an additional $871 billion in interest payments, bringing the all-in cost to $5.5 trillion. That’s up from a previous estimate of $4 trillion, or $4.6 trillion if debt service is included.
Senators expect some of the 50 hours to be ceded and for the vote-a-rama to begin Friday evening and spill into the weekend.
