Senate Republicans want to break up House's Trump bill into bite-sized pieces

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

05/19/25 6:00 AM ET


Senate Republicans say the House-drafted bill to enact President Trump’s legislative agenda has “problems” and are taking a second look at breaking it up into smaller pieces in hopes of getting the president’s less controversial priorities enacted into law before the fall.

Even if Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) manages to squeak Trump’s agenda through the House, it faces major obstacles in the Senate, where moderate Republicans say they oppose proposed cuts to Medicaid and fiscal conservatives say it doesn’t go nearly far enough in cutting the deficit.

“There are still a lot of problems,” said one Republican senator who requested anonymity to discuss internal discussions within the Senate GOP conference on the budget reconciliation bill.

The source said that while proposed cuts in Medicaid spending face stiff opposition in the Senate, GOP negotiators have yet to make much headway on reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which conservatives are targeting for cuts. The lawmaker said colleagues are talking about a Plan B if the bill fails to pass the House or if it hits a brick wall in the Senate.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5304984-trump-agenda-stalled-senate-considering-split/

---

The "reconciliation" process can consist of 3 different types of bills - "spending", "taxes" (revenue), or "debt". All 3 subjects can be combined into 1 bill or broken up into any combo of 2 (or just have a single type). The main stipulation is that using this process can only happen ONCE in a fiscal year.

The one thing that is of utmost concern is the debt ceiling, where we are hurtling towards that infamous "fiscal cliff" this summer. A "debt" reconciliation bill (to raise the debt ceiling) can actually be done as a standalone apart from their "tax" and "spending (cuts) " piece, as they probably think Dems (Schumer) are too cowardly to allow the government to default. So going back to their original intent for at least 2 separate bills is what the Senate GOP seems to be floating here.