Republicans charge ahead on Trump budget, setting up marathon Senate votes

Senate Republicans cleared the way on Thursday for an eventual vote on the latest version of a budget to push through several key agenda items for President Trump, including the southern border and extending his 2017 tax cuts. 

A motion to proceed was agreed to in the upper chamber just one day after Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham unveiled the Senate’s amendment to the House’s budget plan. 

The Senate agreed to the motion by a vote of 52 to 48, along party lines. The only exception was Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who voted against it. Paul has criticized the budget framework’s provision on the debt ceiling. 

The changes made by the Senate include raising the debt ceiling by up to $5 trillion and making Trump’s tax cuts permanent by using what’s known as a current policy baseline, as determined by the chairman. 

The Thursday motion kicks off roughly a day’s worth of debate, before a ‘vote-a-rama’ begins. The marathon amendment votes are expected to take place at some point on Friday afternoon or evening after debate concludes. 

During a vote-a-rama, senators are able to introduce an unlimited number of amendments, and many are expected to get floor votes. 

After the amended budget resolution passes in the Senate, which it is expected to do at some point on Saturday, the House will need to take it up again. 

This is a significant step forward for Republicans in their quest to get Trump’s priorities done through the budget reconciliation process. This key budget process lowers the vote threshold in the Senate from 60 to 51, allowing the GOP to pass things without support from their Democrat counterparts. Reconciliation is considered a key tool for the Republican trifecta in Washington to get Trump’s policies passed. 

Early on, Republicans in the House and Senate were split on how to organize the key resolution. House Republican leaders largely preferred doing one reconciliation bill that addressed both the border and tax cuts, while Senate Republicans wanted to separate the issues into two bills. 

Republicans in the lower chamber made it clear they would only accept one reconciliation bill that included border funding and tax cut extensions, as they have less room for dissent in their slim majority. 

Each chamber passed their preferred resolution, but Trump’s support for one bill on multiple occasions put the House’s strategy over the top. Senate Republicans themselves even described their resolution as a backup plan to the House’s.