Senate GOP leaders will move as soon as Wednesday to begin advancing a budget plan — the next key step to unlock President Donald Trump’s massive agenda through a party-line bill.
Under the ambitious timeline being privately considered by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the Senate would adopt its budget resolution before heading home for the weekend. A marathon vote-a-rama could kick off Thursday, though four people granted anonymity to disclose private discussions cautioned it could slip to Friday depending how quickly the chamber moves.
In order to make this work, the Senate parliamentarian will need to sign off on Republicans’ plans to use a tactic known as the current policy baseline, which will allow them to pursue trillions of dollars in tax cut extensions while claiming it doesn’t cost anything.
Senators believe they could secure such a ruling from the parliamentarian as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, though the meeting has yet to be scheduled. This ruling is crucial because Republicans can’t finalize their retooled budget resolution until they know if their accounting gambit will be approved.
