Senate begins ‘vote-a-rama’ as GOP takes first step to advance Trump agenda

Senate GOP leaders are expected to soon take a major step toward advancing President Donald Trump’s multi-trillion-dollar agenda in Congress — simultaneously setting off an intraparty war over how to pay for it.

Senate GOP leaders are expected to soon take a major step toward advancing President Donald Trump’s multi-trillion-dollar agenda in Congress — simultaneously setting off an intraparty war over how to pay for it. Republicans in Washington are moving urgently to deliver the White House a political win on taxes and border security amid an escalating trade war. But the road ahead will be difficult for Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who have slim majorities in their chambers and will need to settle complex party fights that are already dividing the GOP’s hard-right fiscal hawks and its more establishment wing. The Senate GOP on Friday evening kicked off a marathon voting session known as a “vote-a-rama” on a new budget blueprint that will allow top Republicans to begin drafting Trump’s first big legislative package. That process is expected to last through early Saturday morning as Democrats plan to force hundreds of votes to hammer the GOP on an array of political weak spots, including tariffs and the proposed GOP spending cuts that could impose major slashes to programs like Medicaid, which now provides health services to more than 72 million Americans. But Thune’s plans — which include trillions of dollars in permanent tax breaks and new money for national security, with only nominal spending cuts — will, once approved, have to survive the much more conservative GOP-led House. Both chambers must agree to the same budget blueprint to unlock the next step toward Trump’s bill, using special filibuster-proof powers known as budget reconciliation. A half-dozen House GOP lawmakers and senior aides told CNN on Friday they remain skeptical that the Senate’s plan can survive their chamber, where hardline conservatives are seeking at least $1.5 trillion in cuts, compared to the Senate’s objective of $4 billion. Johnson has said he plans to bring the Senate proposal to the House floor next week. “I worry that it’s going to hurt momentum and you’re gonna have people over here, especially the fiscal hawks, they’re going to say, this is an unserious exercise. And I think you’re going to see people fall off,” House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, who steered the House GOP’s own budget plan, said this week.