House Republican leaders sent members home for the week because all planned activities on the floor had to be canceled because of a failed procedural vote on Tuesday afternoon.
Nine Republicans joined with Democrats to stop the vote after GOP leaders tried to add language that would have stopped Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) from leading a proposal to let new parents vote by proxy, Politico noted.
Bills that would complicate voter registration for non-citizens and hinder judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions were being considered. Both of these issues are very important to President Donald Trump.
On the other side, Senate Republicans are set to meet with Trump this week to discuss several hot ticket items.
Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee and Majority Leader John Thune will meet with President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
This week, senators hope to take the next step toward writing the “one big, beautiful bill” that will carry out Trump’s domestic agenda of tax cuts, stronger border security, and more energy production in the United States.
In a short interview Tuesday night, Thune said that the next meeting would “principally” be about budget reconciliation. This is the process that lets the majority party pass laws along party lines without having to follow the Senate’s filibuster rules.
But the Republican from South Dakota also said that the talk with the president could go deeper into bigger spending issues, such as how to lower the deficit through reconciliation or some other method.
During the meeting with Trump, Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee would be able to say that they want to “try to do as much deficit reduction as possible through as many means and ways of getting it as possible.”
It might also be a good chance for Thune and Trump to make their strongest case to some of the most intense deficit hawks on Capitol Hill to support their new plan.
Senate GOP leaders are working hard to get the text of a new budget plan out to the public as soon as Wednesday. It needs to be approved by both houses of Congress before the reconciliation process can begin in earnest. By the end of the week, it will be up for adoption on the floor.
There is agreement among leaders that the minimum amount needed to reduce the deficit could be as low as a few billion dollars. It is agreed that they will go much higher in the reconciliation bill. A “spiritual” goal of $1.5 trillion or $2 trillion is also on their list.
Some Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee, on the other hand, want the minimum amount to cut the deficit to be as high as $6.5 trillion. One thing that will be stressed during the pitch is that reconciliation is only one part of cutting costs.
Senators are also being reminded by their leaders that they have regular meetings with administration officials to start working on a “rescissions package.”
This is a list of spending cuts that the White House could send to Congress to be made official.
Also, Republicans in the House and Senate are thinking about whether to make the funding freezes overseen by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency official during the fiscal 2026 appropriations process.
Senate Republicans said Tuesday that they are sticking to their plan to pass a budget plan this week and move forward with President Trump’s domestic policy agenda. However, they continue their diligent efforts behind the scenes to secure the necessary votes.
The confidence projections followed a private meeting where GOP senators deliberated on significant issues that remain unresolved. For example, they talked about how much the Republicans are willing to cut federal spending, as fiscal hawks are upset about leaders’ plans to include only modest deficit-cutting goals in the budget plan itself.
“We just keep having the same conversation,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said exiting the meeting. “But I do think, you know, there are at least 50 people willing to move forward on this portion of it.”
