Republicans dream of another major budget proposal that will be scuttled by Trump’s demands for the SAVE America Act

WASHINGTON – Republicans have another opportunity to apply the sophisticated process they relied on to pass their “big, beautiful” law and dedicate tens of billions of dollars in additional funding to immigration enforcement – a chance that becomes increasingly unlikely as disagreements over a voter ID bill divide the party.

The debate over a third reconciliation bill has been simmering in the background for months, although Republican lawmakers have not yet reached consensus on whether to craft another sweeping package like the one they passed last year or a narrower package that could aid the party boost defense spending.

This budget reconciliation process gives Republican leaders a chance to bypass Senate rules that would otherwise force bipartisanship, giving them a loophole when negotiating major legislation with Democrats.

However, there are several hurdles to receiving this special treatment, including the fact that every provision in the bill has an impact on federal revenue or spending that is not considered “merely incidental” by the Senate parliamentarian.

These superficial restrictions aren’t particularly crucial to President Donald Trump, who wants Republicans in Congress to prioritize a voter ID law that can’t be advanced through reconciliation over all else.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., tried to find a middle ground in behind schedule June by suggesting its apply to lawmakers reconciliation to create a grant program for states that implement voter identification requirements.

Johnson acknowledged the challenges of reconciliation with narrow majorities in each chamber, but said he believes Republicans can achieve their goals if they “stick together.”

However, he had no details to share.

“Stay tuned. We’re working on it,” Johnson said. “Developing a reconciliation bill is a very complicated consensus-building process in which we have a collection of ideas that I think every Republican certainly fundamentally agrees with.”

A few hours later, in the Oval Office, the president rejected the idea of ​​a compromise on election law, sparking further public disagreement among the nation’s leading Republicans.

“Not really. No,” Trump said when asked if he would be “open to a compromise measure” as he pursues the reconciliation process.

Hardball tactics

Lobbying for the full bill, which would require proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo ID when voting, is not just coming from the president.

Far-right Republicans in both chambers are using tough tactics to persuade their leaders to move the bill to Trump’s desk, even if it means delaying work on their colleagues’ priorities.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee is one of several Republicans posting on social media and holding news conferences. He recently called on Americans to “encourage your senators to resume debate in the Senate – with a plan to continue the debate until it is over.”

“Tell your senators: Pass the SAVE America Act,” Lee wrote in another post. “Don’t accept excuses or half measures.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is somewhat frustrated by constant pressure from some of his members to devote time and resources to a bill that can’t pass.

“Ultimately I have to deal with reality,” Thune said. “And sometimes the alternate universe X doesn’t reflect the facts on the ground.”

Thune said it has been “very clear” for some time that there is not enough support among Republicans for changing Senate rules that require a vote of at least 60 lawmakers to limit debate on most bills. This legislative filibuster forces bipartisanship and gives the minority party, which could be Republican as early as next year, a seat at the table.

“There are not the votes necessary to destroy the filibuster, and there are not going to be 10 Democratic votes that suddenly support the SAVE America Act,” Thune said. “These are just harsh realities and I think people have to deal with them at some point.”

Trump cancels signing of housing bill

West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said the voter ID bill did not have the votes needed to become law despite months of effort.

“If you don’t get to 60, you can’t make it. I mean, it’s pretty simple,” she said. “Now he’s saying if you talk it to death, people will change their minds. I don’t think that’s a strategy that’s going to be successful. We tried to keep talking about it at the beginning of the year, but we didn’t make it to the end.”

Capito said voters want Republicans to focus on issues that can improve people’s lives, such as the largely bipartisan Housing Affordability Act both chambers agreed this month. However, Trump was expected to sign this bill during a ceremony on Capitol Hill cancelled trying to enforce the electoral law at the last minute.

“So yeah, they want us to do something,” she said. “They don’t want to see us sitting up there chatting all the time.”

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, wants to apply the time to avoid another government shutdown when the next fiscal year begins Oct. 1 — no simple task after three shutdowns last year.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., hopes to reach a final agreement on the farm bill in the coming months, after years of delays and stopgap measures for these farm and food safety net programs.

He brushed aside calls from some other Republican lawmakers to apply the budget reconciliation process to pass another partisan package.

“We had problems with what we were doing, and that was very, very close. I mean, that was strictly homeland security,” Boozman said. “When you start making a larger package of what they’re talking about and involving different committees, it gets a lot more issues involved that you have to sort out. And so it just becomes very complex.”

Boozman added that working through each step of this process takes weeks that lawmakers may not have.

Other priorities

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said the party needs to focus on legislation that would lower “the cost of everything,” including by eliminating taxes on gasoline and health care.

“This would immediately be a huge benefit to all professionals out there,” he said. “Let them deduct all health care costs from their federal taxes so they don’t pay taxes on them.”

Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy said he believes lawmakers should apply the budget reconciliation process to significantly enhance defense funding. But he said “duh” when asked by the state newsroom whether the circumscribed number of session days would make that complex.

MPs are unlikely to meet for most of August and September.

“I think if we want to get more money for defense we have to do it through reconciliation, which means we have to start immediately,” he said.

Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno has a long list of issues he wants Republicans to address before November, including a bill he will unveil later this summer alongside Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren to support it Social Security Trust Fund.

“It’s not really a third rail issue because we’re saying everyone should pay the same amount for Social Security,” he said. “If there’s something that literally 90% of Americans support, then I think we should be able to get something across the finish line on that.”

The two lawmakers wrote in and comment The bill, published in The New York Times, would raise the cap that ensures people stop paying into Social Security if they earn more than $184,500.

“Because the vast majority of Americans earn less, most people pay Social Security taxes on 100 percent of their income, while top earners pay only a portion of their income,” they wrote.

“Why should a middle-class nurse pay a larger portion of her salary than a wealthy corporate lawyer?” they added. “This is doubly unfair in an economy where the wages of top earners have over time been well above those of the average worker.”

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said he wants lawmakers to ensure that E15 gasoline, a blend that contains 15% ethanol and is not typically available in the summer, can be sold year-round, although he did not think of other issues the party should push for before November.

“I don’t think I can answer your question,” he said. “I just didn’t think about it.”