Sen. Lindsey Graham pushing for second budget reconciliation package

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham is pushing for another budget reconciliation package, a process that requires a simple majority in the upper chamber and would avoid a Democratic filibuster to help Republicans pass President Trump’s funding priorities.

Mr. Trump has pressured Republican lawmakers to abolish the chamber’s long-standing filibuster rule, which allows for the minority to prevent legislation from advancing to a final vote unless 60 lawmakers agree to it. But Mr. Graham, South Carolina Republican, reportedly told the president that passing the party’s legislation through budget reconciliation is a better alternative in the coming months.

“The Big, Beautiful Bill went through reconciliation. It did the largest tax cuts, largest spending cuts, replenished the military and [provided] money for border. I think it’s a tool that can be used to put points on the board,” Mr. Graham said.

Mr. Trump had pushed back on Mr. Graham’s assertion during a meeting with GOP senators Wednesday, saying there was too much that they could not pass through budget reconciliation.

Republicans remain at an impasse with Senate Democrats over how to resolve the government shutdown, now in its fifth week, and the White House is seeking ways to expedite the process.

At least a dozen Senate Republicans said after a breakfast meeting at the White House where Mr. Trump made his case that they are opposed to eliminating the legislative filibuster.

The president’s main argument is that Democrats will “immediately” end the filibuster if they retake control of the Senate, and Republicans should do it first to enact their priorities.

It would take 51 votes to end the filibuster using the “nuclear option,” in which a simple majority can override the normal requirement for a two-thirds vote to change the chamber’s rules.

Republicans were unable to include several items in the Big Beautiful Bill after Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled the measures were not in compliance including Republicans’ initial proposal to cut the food assistance program known as SNAP, an effort to sell federal land and a measure to restrict federal judges’ power to enforce injunctions against the Trump administration.

Mr. Graham said that while there are “limits” to the procedure, he looks at reconciliation as a “great opportunity.”

“Look what we did in reconciliation with the One Big, Beautiful, Bill,” he said. “We owe it to him to do something. And reconciliation allows you to avoid [the filibuster].”