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President Trump on Friday pressured Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to immediately take up a House-passed budget resolution to advance critical funding for the Iran war despite Thune’s statement on Thursday saying the measure doesn’t have 50 votes to pass the Senate.
Trump turned the screws on the Senate GOP leader to act on the House-passed bill two days after complaining at a rally in Georgia that “the Senate is a place you send things when you want them to die.”
“I am asking that the Senate adopt a Budget Resolution, which can pass with a simple Majority, before leaving for the August recess. We are ready to work side-by-side with the Senate to get this done for the American People!” Trump posted on Truth Social Friday afternoon.
The call to action came a day after Thune told reporters that he doesn’t have 50 votes to advance the $95 billion House-passed budget bill, which includes $73 billion in funding for the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, $12 billion for farmers and $10 billion for election-related reforms.
“As I’ve said before, you got to get to 50, and I can’t count to 50 right now on a budget resolution,” Thune said when asked about how the Senate would handle the House-passed budget framework.
“We’ll see. We’ll have those conversations with the conference. The priority is funding the government. To me, that’s the thing we got to keep our eyes on,” he said.
The latest pressure from Trump comes amid escalating tensions between the White House and Thune.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Trump’s “patience is running out” with Thune and “the Senate needs to do its job.”
That criticism prompted a testy response from Thune.
“Maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes. Right? It’s 50 around here,” Thune shot back.
“Instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats,” Thune added. “And if there are Republicans they think are gettable, get on the phone.”
Thune told reporters on Tuesday that he plans to “hold” the House-passed budget framework in the Senate to use as a potential vehicle to advance a government funding stopgap in September.
Passage of a joint budget resolution through both chambers unlocks the budget reconciliation process, which would allow Republicans to pass legislation with a simple-majority vote and circumvent a Democratic filibuster.
But previous efforts to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote and require photo identification to vote, through the Senate have failed. Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled that Trump’s No. 1 legislative priority is not eligible to pass with a simple majority under the rules that govern the budget reconciliation process.
Republican senators are also split over whether to offset the cost of the $95 billion package with other spending cuts.
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