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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) warned Wednesday he does not currently see 50 Republican votes for advancing a budget resolution, after President Trump renewed his call for the Senate to advance a budget framework to fund the war in Iran and perhaps raise the national debt limit.
“We’ll have a more fulsome conversation about that later,” Thune said after Trump this week renewed his call for the Senate to act on a House-approved budget resolution.
“Right now, we don’t have 50,” he added.
If passed, the resolution would unlock the reconciliation process whereby Republicans could pass an emergency spending package through Congress and avoid a Democratic filibuster.
The package would include $73 billion to help fund the Iran war effort, $12 billion for farmers and $10 billion in incentives to states to reform election procedures.
Trump on Tuesday called on Senate Republicans to pass the House budget framework before leaving for the five-week August recess.
Passage of a joint budget resolution would allow the GOP-controlled Senate and House to move a budget reconciliation package in September that could circumvent a Democratic filibuster.
“Senator Ron Johnson is working hard with Senate Republican Leadership to adopt a Budget Resolution before the August recess. This is the first step towards getting as much of THE SAVE AMERICA ACT as possible in a Budget Bill, funding our Troops, and helping our Farmers,” Trump posted on Truth Social, referring to the Senate Budget Committee chair from Wisconsin.
“I am calling on the Senate to get this critical first step done before the August recess. This Resolution can be adopted at a simple Majority threshold. GET IT DONE!” Trump wrote.
Trump has complicated the chances of passing any budget resolution by pushing for it to include a provision to raise the federal debt limit through the end of his presidency.
If Democrats recapture control of the Senate or House in November, the projected expiration of the debt limit next year would give them a powerful bargaining chip with Trump.
Thune told reporters Wednesday that Trump “is keenly interested in” raising the debt limit before Republicans potentially lose control of a chamber of Congress.
But Thune noted trying to raise the debt limit in a budget reconciliation package would complicate the path to passing anything, because fiscal conservatives in both chambers would insist on big spending cuts to partially offset any increase in borrowing authority.
“We hit it next year,” Thune said of the looming expiration of the federal government’s borrowing authority.
He pointed out that Republicans included major spending cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed last year. That law also raised the debt limit by $5 trillion.
“Deficit reduction was one of the principal reasons for doing budget reconciliation, which we did last summer. We did entitlement reform for the first time, frankly, really in the time I’ve been here,” Thune said.
But agreeing on cuts to popular mandatory or discretionary spending programs right before the midterm election would be a very heavy lift for Republicans facing political headwinds heading into November.
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