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Washington — Senate Republicans are moving forward with their own budget plan to fund President Trump’s agenda despite a request from House Speaker Mike Johnson to hold off and let the lower chamber take the lead.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, released a 61-page budget resolution on Friday, setting the groundwork for the Senate to later pass a budget reconciliation bill focused on border security, defense and energy priorities.
“This budget resolution jumpstarts a process that will give President Trump’s team the money they need to secure the border and deport criminals, and make America strong and more energy independent,” Graham, who leads the Senate Budget Committee, said in a statement.
The resolution would direct the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee to each propose $175 billion in additional spending. The Armed Services Committee could propose $150 billion in new spending, while the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee would be allotted $20 billion and the Environment and Public Works Committee $1 billion.
Several other committees would be instructed to find at least $1 billion in cuts.
According to Graham, the resolution would increase annual spending by $85.5 billion, which would be paid for by the same amount in spending cuts.
Graham announced that his committee will meet Wednesday and Thursday to debate and vote on the resolution, which sets a March 7 deadline for the committees to make their proposals.
“Senate Republicans are ready to roll,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota wrote.
Under the budget reconciliation process, Senate Republicans can avoid the 60-vote threshold typically required in the upper chamber and pass the bill without any Democratic support.
Graham unveiled the plan ahead of Senate Republicans’ dinner with Mr. Trump on Friday night at Mar-a-Lago and a day after House Republicans spent hours at the White House trying to pull together their own framework.
House Republicans have been at odds with their Senate colleagues, preferring to pass one major bill that also includes extending tax cuts enacted during Mr. Trump’s first term and potentially a debt ceiling suspension. Senate Republicans believe the tax legislation should be part of a second bill. But House Republicans believe putting everything into one bill gives it the best chance of passing their divided conference.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Friday that the House’s framework could be released this weekend.
“The expectation is that we’ll be marking up a budget early next week,” he said, adding that he and Graham had been playing phone tag for a day and a half.
Johnson said he would be watching the Super Bowl in Mr. Trump’s suite in New Orleans.
“This will be one of the big topics of discussion,” he said.
contributed to this report.