WASHINGTON — Republican senators unveiled a budget proposal Wednesday that’s central to President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda of tax breaks, spending cuts and border security, but they’re delaying some of the most difficult decisions, including how to pay for the multitrillion-dollar package.
Trump hosted Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Republicans at the White House as senators gear up to pass the framework by week’s end. Facing a wall of Democratic opposition, Trump assured the GOP senators he would back the plan — including its massive cuts to government programs and services. It also boosts the nation’s debt limit by $5 trillion.
“He is fully on board with the Senate’s proposal and process to cut spending,†said the Senate Budget Committee chair Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
The Senate GOP’s budget framework would be the companion to the House Republicans’ $4.5 trillion tax cuts package that also calls for cutting as much as $2 trillion from health care and other programs. If the Senate can approve its blueprint, it would edge Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill closer to a compromise setting the stage for a final product in the coming weeks.
Thune, R-S.D., said “it’s now time for the Senate to move forward†on what he called a “generational investment†in border security and national defense.
While big differences remain, Republicans face increasing political pressure to deliver on what is expected to be Trump’s signature domestic policy package: extending the tax cuts, which were initially approved in 2017, during his first term at the White House. Those tax breaks expire at the end of the year, and Trump wants to expand them to include new no taxes on tipped wages, overtime pay and other earnings, as he promised during the 2024 campaign.
Democrats are preparing to oppose the GOP tax plans as giveaways to the wealthy, coming as billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is taking a “chain saw†to the federal government. They warn Republicans plan to cut government programs and services that millions of Americans depend on nationwide.
“We are standing together against the GOP tax scam and in defense of the American people,†House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said alongside others on the Capitol steps late Tuesday.
The Senate bill proposes keeping nearly $4 trillion in existing tax cuts, and adding $1.5 trillion in new ones. It bolsters spending for the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and the Judiciary by as much as $500 billion, though Graham has signaled it would likely be closer to $325 billion.
As for the size of the spending cuts, it’s still a work in progress. The Senate sets a much lower floor of $1 billion in reductions each for committees handling health care, food stamps and other programs. However, that can be raised, if needed, to compromise with the House’s estimated $2 trillion in cuts.
During the morning meeting at the White House, the GOP senators pressed Trump for backing as they vowed to push ahead with tax breaks that would surely be popular, but also spending cuts that could prove politically difficult.
“We asked him for his commitment, which I think was there anyway, to defend our efforts to reduce spending,†said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., “and to do that publicly and vociferously.â€
One main sticking point between the House and Senate GOP plans has been over whether the existing tax cuts, which are estimated to cost the federal government $4.5 trillion over the decade in lost revenue, need to be paid for by spending reductions elsewhere. Adding Trump’s new tax breaks to the package would balloon the price tag.
To offset the costs, House Republicans are demanding big cuts to programs and services to prevent the nation’s $36 trillion debt load from skyrocketing.
But GOP senators have a different approach. They take the view that because the tax cuts are already the current policy, they would not be new and would not need to be paid for. Graham said he has the authority as Budget chair to use this current policy baseline moving forward, meaning only Trump’s other proposed tax breaks would come with a new cost.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and top Democrats call the Senate GOP’s approach a gimmick at best, if not an outright “lie.â€
“It is an obscene fraud and the American people won’t stand for it,†said Schumer, Sen. Jeff Merkley of the Budget Committee and Sen. Ron Wyden of the Finance Committee in a letter to GOP leadership.
Typically, the current policy baseline proposal would need to pass the muster of the Senate’s nonpartisan parliamentarian to make sure it abides by the strict rules of the budget process. Senators from both parties have been arguing in closed-door sessions with the parliamentarian staff — for and against the idea.
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey argued against the GOP baseline as “a gimmick†that would cut important federal services while growing deficits.
“What they’re investing in is bigger tax cuts for the wealthiest,†said Booker said during a landmark overnight speech.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged Senate Republicans in a series of private meetings to get it done.
Treasury needs Congress to raise the nation’s limit this summer to prevent a catastrophic federal default.
Trump has pushed Congress to get the debt ceiling issue off the table so Democrats cannot use it as a leverage point making demands on their own priorities. The House provided a $4 trillion increase in its proposal, but senators upped it to $5 trillion to avoid facing the issue again before the 2026 midterm elections.
What is more certain is that senators want to move quickly this week to pass the framework. That will entail a lengthy all-night vote that could drag into the weekend. Then, they will sort out the details later as the Republicans alone, facing Democratic opposition, build the actual package for consideration in the weeks, if not months, ahead.
