Senate passes budget, setting up showdown with House over Trump agenda
by Alexander Bolton - 04/05/25 2:39 AM ET
Senate Republicans voted early Saturday morning to pass a budget resolution that will be critical to advancing President Trump’s legislative agenda, but the measure breaks with House Republicans on several big issues, setting the stage for a showdown between the two chambers later this year.
The Senate voted 51-48 to pass the measure after a holding a long series of votes on amendments, which kept senators pacing around the chamber for hours.
Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Susan Collins (Maine) were the only Republican to vote against it.
The resolution, which serves as a blueprint to a final measure, still needs to be adopted by the House before both chambers can begin a difficult negotiation on the bill to beef up border security, expand oil and gas drilling, increase defense spending and extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
Once both chambers agree to a joint budget resolution, it will unlock the reconciliation process that allows Senate Republicans to pass Trump’s agenda with a simple-majority vote and avoid a Democratic filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) rallied his Republican colleagues behind the budget by warning that failure to advance it would risk the expiration of Trump’s tax cuts at the end of the year.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5233787-senate-republicans-vote-budget-resolution/
