by Jennifer Shutt, Georgia Recorder
April 3, 2025

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans on Thursday advanced a budget resolution that, once approved by both chambers of Congress, will pave the way for trillions of dollars in tax and spending cuts.

The 52-48 vote moved senators one step closer to a marathon amendment voting session, which will likely take place Friday or Saturday, before they give the budget their final stamp of approval. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul was the only member of his party to vote against moving forward.

The House will have to vote to adopt the revised budget resolution in order to unlock the complex reconciliation process that GOP leaders plan to use to enact an extension of the 2017 tax law, hundreds of billions in new funding for border security and defense, and substantial cuts to federal spending.

The compromise budget resolution, released Wednesday, will also clear the way for Republicans to raise the debt limit later this year by between $4 and $5 trillion.

The tax-and-spending blueprint is not a bill and never goes to the president for a signature. It’s what’s known as a concurrent resolution, so only the House and Senate need to approve it for its provisions to take effect.

Once GOP lawmakers do that, they can move their sweeping policy goals through the Senate without garnering the support of at least 60 lawmakers to move past the legislative filibuster.

That means GOP leaders won’t need to negotiate any part of the yet-to-be-drafted reconciliation bill with Democrats, only the various factions that make up the party.

But that will prove a challenging task given their especially narrow majorities.

In the House, there are only 220 GOP members at the moment, a much smaller number than when the original tax law package passed during Trump’s first administration.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can only lose three Republicans on partisan bills if all members of the chamber are voting. There are currently two absences, but if that changes before Congress clears the bill, Johnson’s margins might shift slightly.

Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate and can lose only three members on the reconciliation package, if Vice President J.D. Vance is available to break a tied vote.  

Last updated 7:37 p.m., Apr. 3, 2025

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