The Senate may steamroll the House on a budget blueprint needed to formally begin the legislative process for advancing much of President Trump’s agenda if Republicans in the lower chamber can’t come together on a plan.

Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said he has been waiting to see what the House comes up with but his patience is running thin.

“Not much longer,” he said when The Washington Times asked how long he would wait before moving forward with his own budget blueprint.

The deadline may end up being Friday night, when Republican senators are set to meet with Mr. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the GOP whip, said if House Republicans don’t act — “it looks like right now they’re not able to move at the level we’d like them to move” — that Senate Republicans would ask Mr. Trump if he wants the Senate to move forward.

“We do have a bill ready to go here,” Mr. Barrasso said, referring to the budget resolution that will allow Republicans to ram through the agenda with party-line votes.

House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted he won’t let the Senate take over.

“The Senate will not take the lead. We’ll take the lead,” the Louisiana Republican said. “We’re right on schedule.”

Mr. Johnson targeted this week as a pivotal one in his ambitious timeline to enact “one big beautiful bill.” The bill would encompass key aspects of the party’s agenda, including funding boosts for border security and defense needs, energy policies that promote domestic production and an extension and expansion of the tax cuts Republicans enacted in Mr. Trump’s first term.

The speaker had expected his conference would be ready this week to unveil and hold a committee vote on a budget resolution laying out instructions for different committees with revenue and spending targets they need to achieve in putting together the legislation.

But the unveiling of the budget resolution has been delayed as Republicans wrestle internally over how high their spending cut targets should be.

“It’s a dumpster fire,” a source familiar with the negotiations told The Times. “Leaders of committees and Speaker Johnson can’t agree on a top-line number that both conservative and moderate members can stomach.”

The source, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about private negotiations, confirmed that plans for the House Budget Committee to vote on a budget resolution this week were off, although Mr. Johnson said a final call had not been made.

“It’s not yet determined whether we’ll be marking up this week or not,” the speaker told reporters. “We’re having an important meeting tonight with key figures on the committee and others to sort through it.”

If the Senate decides to move first, they will likely only include instructions in their budget resolution for border, defense and energy provisions, saving the more complicated tax code overhaul for a second budget reconciliation vehicle.

“I would think so. That would be my preference,” Mr. Graham said.

Mr. Graham is set to brief Senate Republicans on his budget plan on Wednesday.

“What he’s been working on … is the immediacy of border security, energy security, national security and defense,” Mr. Barrasso said.

Most House Republicans dislike the Senate’s two-track plan because they worry they won’t be able to get the votes for a second bill given their razor-thin majority. But conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus have advocated for a two-step proposal similar to the one Mr. Graham is pushing.

The House and Senate ultimately need to pass identical budget resolutions to lock in the reconciliation instructions so committees can begin writing the details of spending tax and other policy provisions that will meet their targets.

Senate Republicans may have different ideas about spending cut targets than House Republicans regardless of which chamber moves first. As part of their two-step plan, Senate Republicans have talked about providing enough cuts to offset spending increases on defense and border security but saving more sweeping cuts for a second bill to offset lost revenue from tax cuts.

“We will, through budget reconciliation, be looking for ways that we can scrub federal programs and find ways to spend money more efficiently and get us on a more sustainable fiscal track,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican.

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.

• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.