President Donald Trump has made plain his legislative desires – and the GOP majorities in both the House and the Senate appear eager to please. However, they can’t seem to agree on how to go about it. Now, like siblings fighting over the affection of their father, the two chambers of Congress vie for the approval of their president.
Conflict in Congress
At its core, the disagreement between the lower and upper chambers is about how many bills are necessary to achieve the great legislative feat of fulfilling Trump's entire wish list through budget reconciliation. The House hopes for one big bill – to get it all done at once. But the Senate, wary of the difficulty of passing a single, all-inclusive package, would prefer to see it done in two.
Both halves of Congress intend to pass their own version – one bill in the House and two in the Senate – yet neither seems willing to consider the other’s. On Wednesday, February 12, Senate Republicans took the lead. A 61-page resolution proposed by Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), while the House GOP still struggled to come to an agreement of their own, passed through the Budget Committee by a party-line 11-10 vote.
One might argue that the upper chamber already led the way in achieving Trump’s goals, thanks to the success – so far – of the confirmation votes. Even the most controversial and contentious Trump nominees are making it through the Senate, despite all the Democratic efforts to the contrary. Republicans confirmed Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense 50-50, requiring VP JD Vance to break the tie. Tulsi Gabbard made it through to become director of national intelligence, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, both by 52-48 votes. The only Republican to oppose all three was former party leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Kash Patel, Trump’s controversial pick to lead the FBI, was advanced out of committee along party lines on Thursday, February 13 – the very day the full Senate confirmed RFK Jr. – and will likely succeed in his confirmation vote next week.
But the House GOP hopes to regain any lost ground by getting it all done in one fell swoop. The House Budget Committee, finally agreeing on a framework of its own, marked up its one big bill on Thursday, February 13. Still, while the Senate resolution might come to a floor vote early next week, the House's efforts will be delayed longer because the lower chamber is recessed until the following week.
The House package calls for at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts and for several committees to work toward cutting the deficit. It would include up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. It also ramps up border security and defense spending. The Senate plan, which is part one of two, focuses on border security, defense, and energy priorities, leaving the tax cuts for the second act. This first resolution would limit the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee to proposing no more than $175 billion each in additional spending. The Armed Services Committee would be limited to $150 billion in new spending. The Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee would be allowed only $20 billion. Several others would be instructed to cut at least a billion each.
Reconciliation and Division
While the filibuster has been removed from confirming presidential nominations, it remains for legislation. As such, just about any bill can be effectively killed by the minority standing united (or united enough). It requires 60 votes to invoke cloture, ending the period of discussion and allowing a final vote – which needs just a simple majority – to occur. How, then, does the Senate GOP, with its 53-47 majority, have a chance?
As Liberty Nation News Senior Political Analyst Tim Donner once put it, “It’s through the dark magic of so-called budget reconciliation – a polite way of saying a parliamentary maneuver, or weird trick, around the 60-vote requirement via the fine print.” It’s often difficult to explain the rules of Congress in straightforward language – and reconciliation is no exception. In its simplest terms, it’s a tool that allows the Senate to work around the 60-vote cloture rule, but only for certain budget-related topics, and it can only be done a limited number of times a year. For most of the procedure’s history, dating back to the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, a single reconciliation bill has been allowed each year.
In 2021, however, the Democratic majority under President Biden changed the rules, allowing more instances. This is how Senate Republicans would be able to pass a pair of reconciliation bills this year to advance Trump’s legislative agenda in two parts, so long as each pertains to the federal budget or the debt limit.
So, the Senate GOP’s majority of 53 to 47 is more than sufficient to pass its budget bills by reconciliation. And, of course, with bills only needing a simple majority (50% plus one), the 218 – 215 Republican majority also is enough – assuming almost all of both majorities are on board. But while the GOP technically has the votes to pass something, it only matters if they pass the same thing. The House can pass its version of the 2025 spending package, and the Senate can pass its own, different version, but those two would then be different bills – neither one passed by both chambers of Congress. The House and Senate majorities are going to have to settle their differences and both pass the same exact version of this act if they want to send it to the White House for President Trump’s signature.
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