Trump-Backed Budget Resolution Clears Senate Hurdle on Party-Line Vote

Republicans in the Senate succeeded in passing a Trump-endorsed budget resolution on a straight party-line vote of 51 to 48 at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday.

Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, were the only Republicans to vote against it. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., did not vote.

The resolution’s passage is an important step in advancing a bill that would help fulfill many of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises: providing funding for border and defense, as well as renewing his 2017 tax cuts, among other things.

The vote followed a long “vote-a-rama” that began Friday evening. Lawmakers were allowed to introduce myriad amendments during the period of debate.

Democrats were predictably furious. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., used the vote-a-rama as a political messaging tool, criticizing Republicans for voting down his party’s amendments.

“Senate Republicans at each opportunity refused. They are chaining themselves to the MAGA anchor and leaping into the ocean,” said Schumer.

The budget resolution is a necessary first step in the budgetary process, in which Congress lays out spending targets in different policy areas. Those ceilings and floors for spending are further fleshed out and codified by the budget reconciliation process.

Trump endorsed the Senate plan in a Truth Social post Wednesday, in which he called for rapid action.

“Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have been working tirelessly on taking the next step to pass the plan for our ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday, adding:

The Senate Plan has my Complete and Total Support. Likewise, the House is working along the same lines. Every Republican, House and Senate, must UNIFY. We need to pass it IMMEDIATELY!

In February, Trump praised the House of Representatives’ budget resolution, which was passed independently of the Senate. Both houses must approve the same resolution by a simple majority.

After weeks of meetings between Johnson and Thune, the Senate released a compromise budget plan to pass through both chambers, which was voted on Saturday.

After the passage of the Senate budget resolution, the House must now agree on a compromise resolution with the Senate. The final resolution from both house of Congress must be identical.

In February, Johnson was able to narrowly pass a budget resolution through the House on a party-line 217-215 vote, with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., as the only Republican defector.

Johnson still will have to deal with some skeptics in his party. After the vote, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, said, “I can’t support House passage of the Senate changes to our budget resolution until I see the actual spending and deficit reduction plans to enact President Trump’s America First agenda.”

This article has been updated since publication.

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