House and Senate Republicans are still "nowhere near" agreement on how to craft the sweeping budget bill to pass President Donald Trump's agenda, reported Politico — and the Senate leaders are considering "big changes" to what the House already passed, yet another complication in a process already full of hurdles.
"GOP senators made clear Tuesday they intend to revamp the House-approved framework for the sweeping domestic policy bill — most crucially, by likely tweaking the amount of spending cuts congressional committees would need to achieve to finance the package of tax cuts, border security enhancements and energy provisions," said the report.
“[House Republicans] said they needed time to do one big, beautiful bill,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, told reporters. “They had a chance; the product is woefully inadequate.”
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House Republicans' budget framework eyes Medicaid and food aid cuts as a major source of offsets for the spending — but all of this doesn't even include Trump's campaign promises to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security benefits.
All of this comes after weeks of dissent and disagreement between Republicans in the House and Senate over whether it even made sense to do this as one bill or two.
It also comes as Republicans scramble to pass the bill in anticipation of Trump's tariffs, which continue to divide the party, causing significant negative impacts on the economy — and as they debate over whether or not they should, or even can, include the critical reprieve from the debt ceiling later this year before it forces the United States into an artificial default.