Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham said Thursday he is meeting with fellow Republicans about making a new run at passing a party-line policy bill in the coming months.
“I want us to look at what a reconciliation package, a new one, would look like,” Graham said in a brief interview. “We could do some things on health care. We can do some things on policy, taxes and spending.”
As Budget Committee chair, the South Carolina Republican in essence quarterbacks the party-line reconciliation process that would allow the Senate GOP to skirt a Democratic filibuster. His panel is responsible for crafting the budget resolution that unlocks the subsequent policy legislation that can pass with a simple majority.
Graham’s comments after Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters Wednesday that Graham was convening a meeting of Budget Committee Republicans. Graham confirmed he is meeting with fellow GOP senators.
Passing another reconciliation bill after this summer’s megabill would be a heavy lift, and there’s plenty of skepticism that there’s enough of an appetite inside the slim House and Senate GOP majorities to get a bill across the finish line.
But Graham said he mentioned the idea to President Donald Trump and there’s a “growing desire” within the conference to act. Trump is currently pushing senators to kill the filibuster rule that requires 60 votes for most bills; Senate GOP leaders say there is not enough support to do so, leaving reconciliation as Republicans’ best alternative to pass their partisan priorities.
