Reconciliation headaches in Senate – Roll Call

Podcasts

Reconciliation headaches in Senate

CQ Budget, Episode No. 353

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., seen here on May 22, will be walking a tightrope to push the budget reconciliation bill through the Senate. — Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., seen here on May 22, will be walking a tightrope to push the budget reconciliation bill through the Senate. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

By David Lerman and Paul M. Krawzak

Posted June 2, 2025 at 3:15pm

Republican senators want changes to the “big, beautiful” House reconciliation bill, from Medicaid to tax cuts and more. And House appropriators begin writing their fiscal 2026 spending bills while the Trump administration tries to claw back already approved funding. CQ Roll Call’s Paul M. Krawzak and David Lerman outline the fissures in the GOP reconciliation debate and the constitutional fight over the power of the purse.

Show Notes:

Recent Stories

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., leaves the Senate Republicans’ lunch meeting Tuesday in the Capitol.

Booker, Cassidy back legal challenge to ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr participates in a FCC meeting at the commission headquarters on Feb. 18, 2026 in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Supreme Court sides with FCC power in forfeiture process

Capitol Ink | Happy ‘Dumocrats’

A portion of the arena on the South Lawn of the White House, set up for the upcoming UFC match to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary, is seen from the North Lawn on May 28.

Activities around the 250th highlight America’s disunity

Reps. Andy Ogles, center, talks with Speaker Mike Johnson in the House chamber at the start of the 119th Congress. A now-deleted post about homosexuality on one of Ogles’ social media accounts was denounced by GOP leaders, unlike some of his previous posts about religious pluralism.

The GOP push to ‘love thy neighbor’

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., arrives for the House Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Wednesday, May 13, 2026.

Another one bites the dust