WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate on April 4 is set to begin a marathon vote series related to the budget resolution intended to unlock the process to pass President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Known as a “vote-a-rama,” the Senate will vote this evening on a slate of amendments to the legislation.
Under the rules of the reconciliation process, which is being used to pass the budget plan, every amendment offered must be considered and voted on.
After Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) released Senate Republicans’ budget plan on April 2, the Senate moved to quickly advance the resolution.
In a 52–48 vote that included all Republicans except Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Republicans on April 3 approved the procedural step that sets up the vote-a-rama.
Reconciliation bills allow legislation related to taxing, spending, and the national debt to pass without being subject to the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate—a powerful exemption.
The amendments considered during this series could include provisions related to Trump’s just-announced reciprocal tariffs, blocking the Department of Government Efficiency from recommending cuts, and other issues.
For Democrats, it’s an opportunity to put Republicans on record on numerous matters, with no limit to how many amendments can be put forth.
The Senate budget resolution, negotiated with senior House GOP officials, lays out the broad expected outline of the final package.
It will include making Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent; new funding for defense, energy, and border policies; spending cuts; and other components.
The resolution instructs the Senate and the House to allocate $150 billion and $100 billion, respectively, for defense.
It also calls on the House and Senate to put forth $90 billion and $175 billion, respectively, for homeland security.
This would include the border provisions, such as fully funding the wall along the U.S.–Mexico border.
The spending cuts in the bill would be between $1.5 trillion and $4 trillion.
A particularly controversial aspect of the bill is its efforts to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent—though doing so under the rules of reconciliation requires a parliamentary maneuver on Graham’s part that could still be challenged by Democrats or the Senate parliamentarian later.
This provision in particular has already faced challenges, as conservative and liberal groups on April 4 released a joint statement criticizing Republicans’ methods to calculate the bill’s impact.
The resolution would also raise the debt ceiling by up to $5 trillion, which is too high for many deficit-hawk Republicans.
Several have already indicated opposition based on this provision.
‘Dead on Arrival’
As Senate Republicans move ahead with the plan, there are some signs that passage will not be painless.In the resolution, the Senate is ordered to authorize up to a $5 trillion increase to the debt ceiling, while the House is gunning for a $4 trillion raise.
These increases are historically unpopular with Republicans, and this time is shaping up to be no different.
Paul explicitly linked his standalone opposition to the bill to its provisions on the debt ceiling.
Meanwhile, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told The Epoch Times in a text message that the resolution was “DEAD ON ARRIVAL” in the House due to its debt ceiling clauses.
“The 5 trillion is one part of the overall bill which I will not support, nor will members of our Freedom Caucus support!!” he said.
However, the blueprint is just a starting point, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told reporters.
He said it “simply lays out what we agree to do that’s got to be in consensus with the House.
Additionally, there are House and Senate committees that have different jurisdictions.
For example, when it comes to legislation pertaining to Medicaid, the jurisdiction is the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.
“You’re not going to have a true apples to apples when you lay out committees because their committees are named different[ly] and have different jurisdictions,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters.
“The policies at the end of the day will have to match up.”
