{"id":6315,"date":"2025-02-19T13:03:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T13:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-senates-budget-slog-begins\/"},"modified":"2025-02-19T13:03:23","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T13:03:23","slug":"capitol-agenda-senates-budget-slog-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-senates-budget-slog-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Senate’s budget slog begins"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Senate Republicans have begun the arduous process of adopting their budget blueprint<\/u><\/a> and are now set to take a major step forward on President Donald Trump\u2019s agenda later this week.<\/p>\n

GOP leaders face some objections that will slow them down, mostly from Democrats, but for now they\u2019re on track. Contrast that with the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson is struggling to corral his conference, and it\u2019s unclear whether he\u2019ll have the votes to move forward with his own budget next week.<\/p>\n

The state of play: Sen. Rand Paul appears to be the only Republican planning to vote against the resolution, and Democrats can\u2019t tank Majority Leader John Thune\u2019s budget plan if the rest of the GOP falls in line.<\/p>\n

But under Minority Leader Chuck Schumer\u2019s direction, they do plan to force Republicans to take some tough votes first. They\u2019re expecting to focus on potential cuts to Medicaid and Elon Musk\u2019s access to taxpayers\u2019 personal information, as well as highlighting GOP policies that favor the wealthy. (For what it’s worth, Trump said Tuesday in a Fox News interview that Republicans won’t cut Medicaid.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are going to finally have to take votes to support it all,\u201d Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said, referring to the \u201cvote-a-rama\u201d on budget amendments expected to start Thursday.<\/p>\n

Still, Thune is in a much better position than Johnson. The speaker and his whip team are racing to win over at least a dozen GOP holdouts<\/u><\/a> during the chamber\u2019s recess week. Johnson can only afford to lose one member if he wants to approve his plan for Trump\u2019s agenda, assuming all Democrats show up to oppose it. (That might not be a safe assumption: Rep. Kevin Mullin disclosed yesterday he has been hospitalized<\/u><\/a>.)<\/p>\n

In their calls to the holdouts, House leaders have been reminding members that the budget blueprint is just a starting point and that the specifics can be worked out in coming weeks. It\u2019s an argument that has worked in the Senate \u2014 where there are several lawmakers who insist the blueprint needs major work, such as generating more revenue to offset anticipated border, energy and defense spending. But they\u2019re willing to give it the green light for now.<\/p>\n

What else we’re watching:<\/b><\/p>\n