The Senate could soon take the first step toward passing President Donald Trump‘s agenda as House Republicans struggle to reach a deal on budget cuts.
Until now, Senate Republicans have been giving the House leeway to negotiate an all-encompassing bill that deals with tax reform alongside priorities such as the border and energy.
However, an impasse over how to offset the cost of that legislation has Senate Republicans weighing whether to act unilaterally. The House Budget Committee planned to approve a budget resolution this week, but the meeting was scrapped as members of the Freedom Caucus demanded trillions in spending cuts.
The caucus has apparently rejected multiple informal offers from House GOP leadership that would serve as a floor in negotiations.
The delays have breathed new life into a Senate plan to pass Trump’s agenda in two parts, with the border portion enacted now and tax reform later in the year.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the chairman of the Budget Committee, will be briefing his conference on a Senate resolution that combines the border with defense funding on Wednesday.
He told reporters Tuesday that he is willing to advance his resolution if the House falls behind schedule, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) indicated that time is running short for House Republicans to get on the same page.
“We all have a great interest in getting a budget process moving forward, and we were giving the House some space to act, but we’re also prepared to move forward,” Thune said.
House tax writers oppose the two-step approach, viewing a single bill as the only way to get all ideological factions on board, given Republicans control the lower chamber by one vote.
However, Senate Republicans see that one-seat majority as an obstacle to getting Trump a legislative victory until much later in the year. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced last month that the House planned to pass its bill before Memorial Day.
“Remember, the House is supposed to come out with the budget this week, vote on it next week,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a Senate GOP liaison to the House.
“I think if they fail to meet those deadlines that they set on themselves, I think then the Senate has to start moving forward at a very serious pace and figuring out what we can get done,” he added.
The resolution is the first step in that process, instructing committees on how to allocate spending as Republicans use budget reconciliation to sidestep the Senate filibuster.
Senate GOP leadership has not yet indicated when the chamber could take up its own resolution, but Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the No. 2 Senate Republican, said senators would attempt to get Trump’s blessing on the border-first strategy when they meet Friday night for a dinner at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump has up to this point preferred “one, big beautiful bill,” but he told House Republicans at their policy retreat in Doral, Florida, last week that he doesn’t care what plan the GOP goes with so long as it gets his agenda enacted as soon as possible.
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Not all House Republicans support the one-bill approach. The Freedom Caucus has urged Johnson to act on the border first, putting Graham in alliance with an ideological bloc that could derail Johnson’s plans.
The Freedom Caucus has been in contact with Graham, according to Politico, with Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), the caucus’s chairman, confirming to the Washington Examiner that he’s joined House meetings when asked about the budget reconciliation process.
Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.