There could soon be a battle brewing between House and Senate Republicans as the two chambers propose their own competing bills aimed at codifying major parts of President Donald Trump's legislative agenda.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate is deciding to punt the more contentious parts of a budget-related bill down the road to instead focus its efforts solely on extending Trump's tax cuts for another 10-year stretch. This means that elements of the House Republican bill, like cutting Medicaid by roughly $880 billion and slashing federal spending by approximately $1.5 trillion, will be excluded from the Senate's framework.
Journal reporter Richard Rubin reported that this strategy puts the upper chamber of Congress "in immediate conflict with the House," as many Republicans who make up the GOP's razor-thin majority (like the far-right House Freedom Caucus) have previously insisted that steep spending cuts are necessary to win them over. According to Rubin, House Republicans have already "warn[ed] that they can’t accept a framework that ratchets up tax cuts and waters down spending cuts."
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"I don’t want to hear any more about spending cuts," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who chairs the Senate Budget Committee and who wants spending increases for the Department of Defense and for border enforcement. "Those who want to cut spending, there will be a process where you can make your case before the authorizing committee."
Senate Republicans' apparent hesitancy to codify hundreds of billions of dollars in spending cuts could be due to fears that they may not have the votes to do so — despite being in the majority. The Journal reported that Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) are sensitive about cutting Medicaid, which provides health insurance for low-income Americans, given the large percentage of their constituents that depend on it for healthcare. And others like Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) reportedly want even deeper spending cuts than what is being considered. While Republicans have 53 seats, losing four senators on any legislation would sink it.
Even without pursuing the spending cuts House Republicans are calling for, extending the 2017 tax cuts (which policy analysts have said were overwhelmingly skewed in favor of the rich) could be a heavy lift. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that a 10-year extension could cost roughly $4.6 trillion. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) vowed that while the initial budgetary framework differs from the House, the GOP was still united in its goal of cutting agency budgets.
“We have to be careful not to miss the mark on this and to provide flexibility as we chart our bicameral course,” Thune said. “But that won’t stop us from maximizing savings.”
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Click here to read the Journal's report in full (subscription required).