A major discrepancy has already arisen between Senate and House Republicans in the budget resolution they plan to adopt in order to pass President Trump’s domestic agenda.
The 70-page resolution Senate Republicans unveiled Wednesday afternoon would serve as a blueprint, laying out instructions lawmakers will use to write a final bill full of Trump’s top priorities. The House and Senate previously passed competing resolutions and have spent weeks trying to get on the same page.
But Senate Republicans are calling for a $5 trillion increase in the debt limit to be included in the legislation, which they aim to pass without any Democratic support, while House Republicans plan to hike the limit by only $4 trillion.
Senate Republicans say the debt limit needs to be raised by at least $5 trillion to push the issue beyond the 2026 midterm election, warning that otherwise the Republican-controlled Congress might find itself in the tough position of having to raise the debt limit another time right before next year’s election.
But House GOP leaders are leery that a bigger debt-limit increase could spur fiscal conservatives in the lower chamber to vote against the joint budget resolution.
The Senate budget resolution specifically instructs the Senate Finance Committee to “report changes in laws within its jurisdiction that increase the statutory debt limit by not more than $5 trillion.”
But it also retains the House-drafted language instructing the House Ways and Means Committee to “submit changes in laws within its jurisdiction that increase the statutory debt limit by $4 trillion.”
Including the debt-limit language in the resolution would allow Republicans to increase the nation’s borrowing authority without any votes from Democrats.
At least one Senate Republican, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), has said he will vote against a budget resolution that calls for a $5 trillion debt-limit increase. Paul says he’s proposing an amendment to change the budget resolution to limit new borrowing to $500 billion.
“We need Congress to uphold its promises to rein in spending. Call your congresspeople to say NO to $5T in new debt!” Paul posted on the social platform X.
The resolution sets the groundwork for passing a budget reconciliation package later this year, which Senate Democrats will not be able to block with a filibuster.
Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that President Trump is “fully on board” with the Senate proposal.
“Senate Budget Committee Republicans met today with the President. He is fully on board with the Senate’s proposal and process to cut spending,” he said in a statement.
Another major element of the Senate budget resolution is that it empowers Graham to use a “current policy” baseline to score an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts as not adding to the deficit.
That would alleviate the pressure on Senate Republicans to come up with deep cuts to entitlement programs and other mandatory spending to offset the cost of extending the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which is due to expire at the end of this year.
Graham said the flexibility to use a current policy baseline “will allow the tax cuts to be permanent — which will tremendously boost the economy.”
“Budget committee Chairmen before me have utilized section 312 to determine spending and revenue levels, and have also instructed the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation to adjust scoring,” he said in a statement.
The Senate budget resolution states that the Senate Budget Committee chair may use “more realistic assumptions regarding current tax policy, which may include … extending provisions [of] the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act … in order to prevent massive tax increases on working families and small businesses.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) defended the plan to allow Graham to set the budget baseline to project the deficit impact of extending the 2017 tax cuts.
“The Senate parliamentarian has reviewed the Budget Committee’s substitute amendment and deemed it appropriate for consideration under the Budget Act,” Thune said in a statement. “It is now time for the Senate to move forward with this budget resolution in order to further advance our shared Republican agenda in Congress.”
Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee, however, said that the parliamentarian hasn’t specifically approved the use of a current policy baseline to score an extension of the Trump tax cuts as not adding to the deficit. Democrats plan to contest the issue on the Senate floor this weekend.
“The Republicans’ budget resolution does not contain language permitting them to use the current policy baseline to measure reconciliation. The Parliamentarian’s decision that this is appropriate for consideration under the Budget Act should not be construed as an approval of the use of a current policy baseline. Any assertion that the Parliamentarian approved the use of a current policy baseline is false,” said Senate Democrats on the Budget panel.
