WASHINGTON: Senate Republicans pushed ahead late Tuesday on a scaled-back budget bill, a $340 billion package to give the Trump administration money for mass deportations and other priorities, as Democrats prepare a counter-campaign against the onslaught of actions coming from the White House.
\nOn a party-line vote, 50-47, Republicans launched the process, skipping ahead of the House Republicans who prefer President Donald Trump\u2019s approach for a \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d that includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that are tops on the party agenda. Senate Republicans plan to deal with tax cuts later, in a second package.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s time to act,\u201d said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on social media, announcing the plan ahead as the House is on recess week. \u201cLet\u2019s get it done.\u201d
\nThis is the first step in unlocking Trump\u2019s campaign promises \u2014 tax cuts, energy production and border controls \u2014 and dominating the agenda in Congress. While Republicans have majority control of both the House and Senate, giving a rare sweep of Washington power, they face big hurdles trying to put the president\u2019s agenda into law over steep Democratic objections.
\nIt\u2019s coming as the administration\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency effort is slashing costs across government departments, leaving a trail of fired federal workers and dismantling programs on which many Americans depend. Democrats, having floundered amid the initial chaos coming from the White House, emerged galvanized as they try to warn Americans what\u2019s at stake.
\n\u201cThese bills that they have have one purpose \u2014 and that is they\u2019re trying to give a tax break to their billionaire buddies and have you, the average American person, pay for it,\u201d Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told AP. \u201cIt is outrageous.\u201d
\nSchumer convened a private weekend call with Democratic senators and emerged with a strategy to challenge Republicans for prioritizing tax cuts that primarily flow to the wealthy at the expense of program and service cuts to US health care, scientific research, veterans services and other programs.
\nAs the Senate begins the cumbersome budget process this week \u2014 which entails an initial 50 hours of debate followed by an expected all-night session with dozens if not 100 or more efforts to amend the package in what\u2019s called a vote-a-rama \u2014 Democrats are preparing to drill down on those issues.
\nThe Senate GOP package would allow $175 billion to be spent on border security, including funding for mass deportation operations and to build the wall along the US-Mexico border; a $150 billion boost to the Pentagon for defense spending; and $20 billion for the Coast Guard.
\nRepublicans are determined to push ahead after Trump\u2019s border czar Tom Homan and top aide Stephen Miller told senators privately last week they are running short of cash to accomplish the president\u2019s mass deportations and other border priorities.
\nThe Senate Budget Committee said the package would cost about $85.5 billion a year, for four years of Trump\u2019s presidency, paid for with new reductions and revenues elsewhere that other committees will draw up.
\nEyeing ways to pay for the package, Senate Republicans are considering a rollback of the Biden administration\u2019s methane emissions fee, which was approved by Democrats as part of climate change strategies in the Inflation Reduction Act, and hoping to draw new revenue from energy leases as they aim to spur domestic energy production.
\nWhile the House and Senate budget resolutions are often considered simply statements of policy priorities, these could actually become law.
\nThe budget resolutions are being considered under what\u2019s called the reconciliation process, which allows passage on a simple majority vote without many of the procedural hurdles that stall bills. Once rare, reconciliation is increasingly being used in the House and Senate to pass big packages on party-line votes when one party controls the White House and Congress.
\nDuring Trump\u2019s first term, Republicans used the reconciliation process to pass the GOP tax cuts in 2017. Democrats used reconciliation during the Biden presidency era to approve COVID relief and also the Inflation Reduction Act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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