Senate GOP Unveils Budget Blueprint Made In Trump’s Image

Senate GOP leadership unveiled a budget blueprint Wednesday afternoon to advance President Donald Trump’s first-year legislative priorities.

The budget resolution includes an amendment that will incorporate raising the statutory debt limit by $5 trillion and allows for a permanent extension of the expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts. The release of the resolution comes as Senate Republicans are attempting to pass the budget blueprint and make headway in the budget reconciliation process before leaving Washington for the Easter recess that begins on April 11.

Congressional Republicans are seeking to enact the president’s legislative agenda through a process known as budget reconciliation, which allows Senate Republicans to bypass the filibuster and advance legislation by a simple majority vote. Passage of the budget resolution by both chambers will unlock a massive tax and spending bill encompassing many of the president’s legislative priorities, including border security funding, defense spending and making changes to federal energy policy.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune praised the release of the budget resolution Wednesday, suggesting in a tweet that House and Senate Republicans are united in writing a forthcoming budget bill that will advance Trump’s agenda.

The budget resolution notably gives House and Senate committees different deficit and spending targets that will have to be reconciled to pass the sweeping tax and spending bill later this year.

Senate GOP leadership has argued that setting a low spending reduction floor gives the upper chamber maximum flexibility to ensure compliance with the budget reconciliation process. The resolution instructs Senate committees to cut a minimum of $3 billion in federal spending while leaving in place House committee instructions that call for at least $1.5 trillion in spending reduction.

“Sure, the instructions we give to our separate committees – who are responsible for finding those savings – may look a little bit different,” Thune said on the Senate floor Monday. “But that’s not because we don’t have a shared commitment to cutting wasteful government spending and saving taxpayer dollars; that’s simply a function of Senate rules.”

“But that’s not because we don’t have a shared commitment to cutting wasteful government spending and saving taxpayer dollars; that’s simply a function of Senate rules,” Thune continued. “And so we have to be careful not to miss the mark on this and to provide flexibility as we chart our bicameral course.”

The Senate’s budget resolution could face an uncertain reception among House conservatives who are advocating for deep spending cuts to be included in a forthcoming budget bill. Some House GOP fiscal hawks have also criticized the accounting approach Senate Republicans have used to provide permanent tax relief for Americans, alleging the use of a current-policy baseline in the budget resolution would obscure the deficit impact of a permanent tax cut extension.

The Senate could vote as early as Wednesday to unlock a marathon process known as a “vote-a-rama” that allows any senator to propose an unlimited number of budget-related amendments. The unique rules of the reconciliation process will allow Senate Democrats to delay passage of the budget resolution until they lose steam voting on amendments.

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