The One Big Beautiful Bill has passed and has been signed by President Trump, but the sausage factory in Washington is still in operation. Senate Republicans, stymied in many of their agenda items by the Democrats holding enough votes to filibuster anything, are considering taking another swing at the reconciliation process to get some of those agenda items passed. As one might expect, there are a number of holdouts.
Senate Republicans are planning to take another crack at the budget reconciliation process after narrowly passing President Donald Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" earlier this month.
The $3.3 trillion legislative behemoth, which permanently extended many of the provisions of the president’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and included reforms and work requirements for Medicaid and food assistance programs, and billions in spending for defense and border security, only passed the Senate with the aid of Vice President JD Vance.
Now, lawmakers are eying another shot at the grueling process.
Grueling it is and grueling it will be, but the reconciliation process, while limited in scope, will allow the GOP to bypass the 60-vote filibuster. Democrats hold that ace, and they aren't afraid to slam it on the table. And, no, Senate Republicans should not consider a rule change to strip that away. Sooner or later, that shoe will be on the other foot.
Any new reconciliation bill will come along after October 1st, when the new federal fiscal year starts, and the Senate proponents want more spending cuts. Good - that's what we voted for.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., another fiscal hawk who criticized the Senate's changes to the initial reconciliation bill but voted for it in the end, said another reconciliation bill was "absolutely" feasible.
He’s gunning for more spending cuts and more ends to "government giveaways," but noted the looming 2026 election season put them on a short timeline, however.
"[Trump will] have a better chance now, because you don't have to deal with the filibuster, where you can get 50% plus one. If there's ever a chance to do it, we need to do it now, because the midterms are coming up in the middle of next year. So really we need to push for the next eight months," Norman said.
It's unclear as of yet exactly what cuts would be included, and we can hope that they are actual cuts, and not decreases in the rate of increase, which has been how the federal government has defined "spending cuts" for quite a while now. But any cuts that are extensive enough that the Dems would be lockstep against them, well, those have to be worth doing. And it's for sure and for certain that the Democrats will be united against any reconciliation package. If this is to be done, it has to be done without their support.
Meanwhile, the GOP's leadership in both the House and Senate will have their own cats to herd.
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Case in point: There's a predictable stumbling block in the Senate already.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was the key vote that advanced the Senate’s first crack at reconciliation back to the House, after hours of floor negotiations and rewritten provisions that would give a boost to Alaska were added to the package.
But she seemed disinterested in taking another crack at the intensive process.
"No, no," Murkowski told Fox News Digital. "I want to legislate."
Sigh.
Editor's Note: The Deep State is working overtime to subvert President Trump's agenda and the will of the people.
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