The Senate approved changes to the House’s budget resolution on Saturday after an hourslong series of amendment votes during which Democrats sought to put Republicans on record on issues like tariffs and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
It passed mostly along party lines in a 51 to 48 vote.
The amended framework would raise the debt ceiling by up to $5 trillion within the reconciliation process, taking future leverage away from Senate Democrats. It would also make President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent by using what’s called a current policy baseline that Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., decides.
The scoring tool essentially means the cost of making Trump’s tax cuts permanent would be factored at $0 because it extends current policy, rather than counting it as new dollars being added to the federal deficit.
Budget reconciliation lowers the vote threshold in the Senate from 60 to 51, which lets Republicans approve certain priorities with no Democrat support.
Washington’s Republican trifecta thus sees reconciliation as a key tool for delivering on Trump agenda items.
The Senate’s Friday night ‘vote-a-rama’ was triggered by the chamber agreeing to a motion to proceed to the budget resolution amendment on Thursday night. Nearly a day of debate followed before the vote series was initiated.
During this type of voting series, senators of both parties can introduce an unlimited number of amendments, and many get floor votes.
The budget would address border funding for the Trump administration as well as extend the hallmark tax cuts Trump passed in 2017.
Initially, there was stark disagreement between Republicans in the House and Senate on how to organize a budget reconciliation resolution. The House GOP leaders preferred one bill with both the border and taxes included, while those in the Senate wanted to have two separate resolutions for them.
But the House’s approach ultimately won out, with Trump supporting their plan.