The Senate early Friday morning passed a $340 billion budget resolution to tee up a bill focusing on border security funding through the “budget reconciliation” process.
Passage of the budget resolution is a procedural step to outline the priorities Republicans want to include in the final bill. The “budget reconciliation” process has strict rules that anything included in the bill must have a primary impact on spending and not just any policy provision can be included.
The process bypasses typical Senate voting rules and allows for just 50 votes for passage. Republicans currently hold 53 seats.
The budget resolution, led by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), is intended to address border security funding only. Sen. Graham has said he prefers for the Senate to use the budget reconciliation process twice, differing from House leadership plans.
The House is working on its own budget resolution but has not yet held a vote. House leaders say the bill will be significantly larger than the Senate version, with roughly $4.5 trillion in tax provisions and a $4 trillion debt limit increase. The House plan is to include all Republican priorities into one big bill.
President Trump has said he prefers the route the House is taking.
The budget reconciliation process has been used with increased frequency in recent years. It was used in 2020 to address COVID-19 as well as twice in the Biden administration to pursue Democrat priorities.
