Senate Republicans are raising a growing number of objections to a $95 billion spending bill that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wants to fast-track through the House, dimming its chances of becoming law in the coming weeks.
The deficit impact of the bill, released Wednesday ahead of a House Budget Committee vote, has become a stumbling block as Johnson delays plans to tackle a cost-saving crackdown on fraud.
Separately, defense hawks are balking at the $73 billion for Pentagon and intelligence funding and want Congress to go much bigger if Republicans are going to use reconciliation, a time-consuming budget process that sidesteps the filibuster.
President Donald Trump originally proposed $350 billion for the military through a reconciliation bill.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) did not rule out another reconciliation push, telling reporters Thursday that much would depend on whether Johnson is successful in corralling his own conference in the House.
But he voiced the deep skepticism within his chamber and noted that proceeding would complicate negotiations with the Democrats on everything from renewing a key spy program to passing Congress’s annual defense policy bill.
“I mean, it’s an option, and if forced to do it, we’ll see what the traffic will bear here with the Democrats,” Thune said, before caveating that Republicans need to “think long and hard” about whether the time it would take to pass another reconciliation bill is worthwhile.
He pointed to the marathon voting sessions that give Democrats an opportunity to tank the bill with “poison pill” amendments and the budgetary restraints that come with using such a narrow process.
“It’s a much easier proposition in the House,” Thune said.
The note of pessimism adds to the growing number of fiscal hawks who say spending offsets must be a part of any reconciliation bill. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), the incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, told Fox Business on Thursday morning that he does not want to draw any “lines in the sand right now,” but that fellow conservatives might insist on language to pay for the legislation.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who is not ordinarily as outspoken as Johnson and other fiscal hawks, said in a Thursday X post that reconciliation must be offset, citing the size of the federal debt.
“All new federal spending should be offset by cutting spending somewhere else,” added Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who voted against Republicans’ tax law last year over its hike in the debt limit.
On the question of Pentagon funding, Thune suggested that defense hawks may not be willing to go along with reconciliation if it only includes the $73 billion, $60 billion of which falls under the House Armed Services Committee.
“Relative to what the need is, it’s again a question of: Is $60 billion worth the risk of putting something like that on the floor and all the other harm that could potentially come from that?” Thune said.
Another consideration is the SAVE America Act, a sweeping election bill that cannot pass in its entirety under reconciliation, which only allows for language that has a budgetary impact. The House has proposed $10 billion in federal grants to incentivize states to adopt voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements.
On Thursday, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), a retiring centrist, told reporters that he would oppose any reconciliation bill that includes elements of the SAVE America Act, calling the effort futile.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), the bill’s primary sponsor in the Senate, was initially cool to the idea of using reconciliation for an incentives-based bill, taking the side of Trump, who wants to weaken or eliminate the filibuster altogether to pass it.
But Lee has since begun drafting up proposals to help the language survive meetings with the Senate parliamentarian if the upper chamber does proceed down that path.
“Any part of it that we can get through on reconciliation, I’m good with,” he told the Washington Examiner, adding that he has been “working tirelessly” with his team on draft text.
HOUSE GOP’S DISTRUST OF SENATE CLOUDS $95 BILLION RECONCILIATION EFFORT
Johnson has faced many of the same complaints in his conference and will have a difficult time winning over the fiscal hawks, even after a conference-wide meeting with Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday.
The speaker hopes to pass the legislation, alongside other priorities including a government funding bill, through the House before the August recess.