Senate Republicans release budget blueprint ahead of Wednesday markup

Senate Republicans will hold a committee vote next week on a budget blueprint that will unlock their two-bill strategy for enacting the heart of President Donald Trump’s domestic policy agenda.

It officially puts the Senate on a separate, and faster, trajectory than the House, which is still struggling to find consensus on a budget resolution to begin work on a one-bill strategy that would incorporate Trump’s priorities with an extension of expiring tax cuts.

Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced Friday that his panel will meet Wednesday and Thursday to debate and vote on his budget resolution, which paves the way for later passing a border, defense and energy bill only. Graham also released the text of his budget resolution Friday.

"This budget resolution jumpstarts a process that will give President Trump’s team the money they need to secure the border and deport criminals, and make America strong and more energy independent," Graham said in a statement Friday about the budget resolution.

Graham’s resolution would green-light the Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to propose $175 billion in spending each.

The Armed Services Committee would be instructed to propose $150 billion in spending; the Commerce, Transportation and Science Committee, $20 billion; and the Environment and Public Works Committee, no more than $1 billion.

Overall, according to Graham, the resolution would authorize $85.5 billion in spending per year, to be fully offset by corresponding spending cuts. It also would authorize a handful of Senate committees to find no less than $1 billion in cuts, setting that as a floor but with the expectation that lawmakers will come back with more to match the cost of the bill.

The resolution sets a March 7 deadline for Senate committee chairs to hand over their plans. Some Senate Republicans have suggested trying to get a border, energy and defense bill to the floor by mid-March — around the same time as the March 14 deadline to avert a government shutdown.

Asked earlier this week about the March 14 date and the timeline for getting the border-energy-defense package to the floor, Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso (Wyo.) told reporters, “I’ll have a better answer for you next week.”

Senate Republicans will be at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night for a celebratory dinner with Trump where they intend to ask him about moving first on their budget blueprint, which unlocks their ability to bypass Democratic opposition and pass the border, energy and defense bill along party lines. Graham previewed the budget blueprint to his colleagues during a closed-door lunch on Wednesday.

The Senate budget resolution text and official markup schedule also comes as senators are effectively in a race with their House counterparts, who want to pursue one sweeping bill that would also fold in an overhaul of the tax code. House Republicans have struggled for weeks to get on the same page as their hard-liners have pushed for deeper spending cuts and have been quietly backchanneling with Senate Republicans on a two-bill strategy.

The Senate blueprint also does not tee up a bill to raise the debt ceiling after POLITICO first reported last month that senators were expected to leave it out. It's another contrast with House Republicans who have waffled over whether or not to link a lift of the debt limit to their reconciliation plans.

After around-the-clock meetings this week, House Republicans are planning to work through the weekend in hopes of being able to vote in committee next week on their own budget blueprint, which would tie together tax, energy, border and defense spending.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters in the Capitol on Friday that he was also trying to get in touch with Graham to explain his rationale in the budget fight. House Republicans believe they need to keep the tax overhaul tied to border and energy priorities to guarantee the near-unity they will need to get a bill through their divided conference.

“I sent him a text message earlier this morning and explained where we are in the process,” said Johnson, “and how it’s moving aggressively and how important it is for the House to be the one that leads on this and so I expect I’ll talk with him today.”

Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.