The Senate on Friday adopted a budget resolution intended to serve as a blueprint to deliver the first part of President Trump’s agenda.
Senators voted 52-48 along party lines on the resolution after a marathon overnight voting session. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted against the measure.
The so-called vote-a-rama lasted about 10 hours, as Democrats sought to dial up the heat on Republicans with dozens of amendments needling the party on taxes and Medicaid.
Republicans overwhelmingly voted to turn away or reject the proposals. But Democrats were able to peel off one or two GOP defections as some Republicans bucked their party on a few proposals, including measures aimed at preventing healthcare cuts and reinstating federal workers affected by mass layoffs.
The resolution helps pave the way for Republicans to pass roughly $340 billion in funding, including $175 billion in for border operations and immigration enforcement and to carry out Trump’s ambitious deportation plans, as well as $150 billion in defense spending.
The vote serves as a marker for Senate Republicans in their ongoing battle with the House GOP over the best way to deliver on Trump’s top priorities.
“This budget resolution is a complete game changer when it comes to securing our border and making our military more lethal. It will allow President Trump to fulfill the promises he made to the American people — a very big deal,” Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement after the vote.
“I hope the House can pass one big bill that meets President Trump’s priorities. But this approach provides money that we needed yesterday to continue the momentum on securing our border, enforcing our immigration laws, and rebuilding our military. Time is of the essence.”
Trump this week endorsed the House’s one-track plan that includes border and defense spending, combined with an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and a debt ceiling increase. But GOP leadership in the Senate, backed by a large swath of their conference, are barrelling forward with their preferred two-track process.
Senate Republicans say their plan would put key points on the board during Trump’s first 100 days, and point out that “border czar” Tom Homan and other key officials have been clamoring for an infusion of funds for border and defense.
They are also not oozing with optimism that the House will be able to shepherd through what Trump and members have dubbed “one big, beautiful bill” given the slim margin in the lower chamber and the fractious nature of the House GOP conference.
“I think the probabilities of them running into a roadblock are more than 50-50,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “It makes it a whole lot easier if we’ve only got one bill to go through. We hope it’s doable for them. But if it’s not, then this is the next best deal. We don’t want to be stuck without any other alternatives. This doesn’t hurt.”
“One of the reasons why we’re doing ours is just in case they can’t get a consensus on their big, beautiful bill, we may have to do it in small, really beautiful bills,” he added.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said ahead of the Thursday night vote that he had previously planned to vote against the measure following Trump’s comments. But he said he switched to a “yes” after speaking directly with Trump, whom he noted gave “a nod” toward the Senate plan.
“He made clear to me, however, he wants one big, beautiful bill. He said that two or three times on the phone,” he said. “So, you know, I think this is maybe better than nothing.”
Trump sent out a message on Thursday thanking Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) for working to fund his border agenda on Truth Social as senators began to hunker down for the overnight voting session.
“We are setting records, the likes of which have never been seen before, on stopping criminal illegals aliens from entering our Country,” he said, adding, “Your work on funding this effort is greatly appreciated!”
“I wasn’t going to vote for this unless he supported moving forward,” Hawley later told The Hill. “[Trump] issued a statement in which he said he was in support of the border funding. So, that’s good enough for me.”
Johnson has laid out an expeditious timeline to pass the single, massive package out of the House by early April with the hopes of it reaching the Resolute Desk by sometime between late April and Memorial Day.
Senate Republicans have consistently dubbed that plan as overly ambitious and have cautioned that the single-bill plan will likely take more time.
There are also major issues on the tax side that members will be forced to contend with, including whether the cuts that go into effect will be made permanent, which Thune and a number of Senate GOP members have laid out as a red line.
The House’s budget resolution currently lays out a $4.5 trillion limit in tax cuts, which would not be enough to cover making those cuts permanent.
Questions have also surrounded how Republicans will be able to win these levels of cuts without digging into popular programs, including Medicaid, as hardline conservatives have pressed for spending cuts and taxes to go hand in hand.
The House’s budget has called for about $2 trillion in spending reductions, but with the committee charged with overseeing the healthcare program tasked with finding nearly $900 billion in cuts – fueling concerns from even some GOP moderates about potential Medicaid cuts in the lower chamber.
Many of those cuts could be aimed at what has become the U.S.’s biggest health insurance program, which has been expanded in 41 states since the Affordable Care Act was passed almost 15 years ago.
Fears of potential cuts dominated a chunk of the marathon voting session late Thursday, with Democrats sounding alarm over the program and offering multiple proposals aimed at preventing potential cuts.
While most Republicans opposed those measures, a majority of the party voted to back an amendment offered from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) that he said is aimed at strengthening Medicaid and Medicare.
“People rely on Medicare and Medicaid. Alaskans rely on Medicare and Medicaid, and we are here to strongly support them,” Sullivan said. “So, we should all agree that we want to weed out waste, fraud, abuse in our healthcare system, including in Medicare and Medicaid, and we must maintain our safety net programs.”
However, Democrats roundly rejected the amendment, which called for a deficit neutral reserve fund related “to protecting Medicare and Medicaid.”
Sen. Ron Wyden (R-Ore.) argued the language in the amendment “is code for kicking Americans with Medicaid coverage off their health insurance if they’re not sick enough, not poor enough, or not disabled enough.”
In their race with the House, Senate GOP members are largely for whichever item they are able to pass. They also see value in going through the two-bill exercise to keep the pressure on their colleagues in the lower chamber.
“I’m for whatever can get the 218 [votes] in the House and 51 in the Senate,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said about those concerns on Thursday. “What we’ve been doing in the Senate has been an impetus for the House to take more action.”
The House Budget Committee advanced its budget resolution last week and the full chamber is expected to vote on it in the coming days.
“What we’re doing here is responding to the needs that we’re hearing from the president, Tom Homan, [Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem. They need the money to secure the border. They need it now. We need to rebuild the military now. We need to unleash American energy now,” Barrasso continued.
“These are the immediate needs,” he added.
