Latest news with #TheSenate
Wall Street Journal
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
What if Republicans Ditch the Senate's Rules?
I was interested to read my colleague Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R., Wyo.) endorsing the editorial board's stance on overturning California's legal right to set its own emissions standards ('The Senate Can End California's EV Mandate,' Letters, May 7). For a party so dedicated to protecting the filibuster, Republicans are going to extreme lengths to undo California's Clean Air Act waivers. There's a saying in Washington that holds that if you're arguing over process, you've already lost. In this case, Senate Democrats have the scorecard to prove it.
Axios
05-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
Senate adopts budget plan for passing Trump's agenda
The Senate approved a budget resolution early Saturday morning following a grueling overnight session with forced votes on more than 20 amendments. Why it matters: It's an important step for Congressional Republicans seeking to pass President Trump's ambitious agenda on taxes, energy and the border. But the hard part is still to come. The resolution passed by a vote of 51-48. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Susan Collins (R-Me.) voted against it, along with Democrats. Now it's in the hands of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Between the lines: The reconciliation process allows the Senate to skirt the filibuster to pass budget-related measures. It also allows Senate Democrats to make the process miserable through unlimited amendment votes. The so-called vote-a-rama began Friday evening and lasted until after 2am on Saturday morning, with Democrats forcing Republicans to take tough votes on everything from tariffs to Medicaid cuts. Zoom in: The budget resolution would raise the debt ceiling by up to $5 trillion. It would make Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent. It does so by relying on a current policy baseline, an accounting maneuver that zeroes out the otherwise $4 trillion cost. Some Republicans have been wary of the move, concerned that it could ultimately get rejected by the Senate parliamentarian, who serves as the chamber's rule-keeper. The resolution includes an extra $1.5 trillion for other tax priorities, such as Trump's promised "no tax on tips." It provides $175 billion for the border and $150 for defense. What to watch: One major fight to come will be over how to pay for the new spending, with conservatives — and DOGE — pushing for serious cuts.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Senate GOP pushes Trump budget framework through after marathon vote series
The Senate passed a framework for a sweeping bill promoting President Donald Trump's agenda after an hourslong series of amendment votes during which Democrats sought to put Republicans on record on issues like tariffs and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It passed mostly along party lines in a 51 to 48 vote around 2:30 a.m. ET on Saturday morning. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., were the only two Republicans to join Democrats in opposing the measure. The amended framework would raise the debt ceiling by up to $5 trillion within the reconciliation process, taking future leverage away from Senate Democrats. It would also make Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent by using what's called a current policy baseline that Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., decides. Dem Senator Looks To Hijack Key Trump Budget Process With Tariff Challenge The scoring tool essentially means the cost of making Trump's tax cuts permanent would be factored at $0 because it extends current policy, rather than counting it as new dollars being added to the federal deficit. Some conservatives have signaled they're wary of using that method, however. Read On The Fox News App Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote series, "I have been assured that there is a commitment and other ways to pay for the eventual reconciliation bill." "Now, I am not saying that I think that it is better that we use current policy as baseline. It's never been done before in a setting like this. I think it establishes a dangerous precedent. It might be within the rules to do so, but it doesn't mean it's wise to do so," he said. Some House conservatives have gone so far as to call it a "gimmick." Senate GOP leaders made clear they were in lock-step behind the framework, however. "This resolution is the first step toward a final bill to make permanent the tax relief we implemented in 2017 and deliver a transformational investment in our border, national, and energy security – all accompanied by substantial savings measures and commonsense reforms to our government," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on Friday evening. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said, "The American people gave us a mission and a mandate: secure borders, lower taxes, affordable energy, peace through strength, and, of course, efficient, effective government. Senate Republicans' bold budget blueprint delivers." Republicans Charge Ahead On Trump Budget, Setting Up Marathon Senate Votes Budget reconciliation lowers the vote threshold in the Senate from 60 to 51, which lets Republicans approve certain priorities with no Democrat support. Washington's Republican trifecta thus sees reconciliation as a key tool for delivering on Trump agenda items. The Senate's Friday night "vote-a-rama" was triggered by the chamber agreeing to a motion to proceed to the budget resolution amendment on Thursday night. Nearly a day of debate followed before the vote series was initiated. During this type of voting series, senators of both parties can introduce an unlimited number of amendments, and many get floor votes. No amendments were adopted during the roughly six hours-long vote series. Some notable measures, however, included an amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to raise the federal minimum wage to $17 over a period of five years, an amendment by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to limit many of Trump's tariffs, and a bipartisan amendment aimed at blocking the reconciliation bill from making cuts to Medicaid. Ted Cruz Clashes With Key Democrat Over 'Second Phase Of Lawfare' Through Federal Judges' Orders "Tonight, Senate Democrats gave Senate Republicans the chance to hit the kill switch on Donald Trump's tariffs on DOGE, on the attacks against Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid," Schumer said after the vote. "And at each opportunity, Republicans refused." Graham said in a statement on X after the vote, "Tonight, the Senate took one small step toward reconciliation and one giant leap toward making the tax cuts permanent, securing the border, providing much-needed help for the military and finally cutting wasteful Washington spending." The budget would address border funding for the Trump administration as well as extend the hallmark tax cuts Trump passed in 2017. Initially, there was stark disagreement between Republicans in the House and Senate on how to organize a budget reconciliation resolution. The House GOP leaders preferred one bill with both the border and taxes included, while those in the Senate wanted to have two separate resolutions for them. House Republicans passed a framework that closely resembles the current Senate-passed version last month. But it's still not clear that House conservatives will accept the Senate plan, despite its similarities to the lower chamber's framework, with the Senate's bid to permanently extend Trump's tax cuts likely to be one of the biggest points of contention. The House Budget Committee's Republican majority wrote on X just before the Senate kicked off its vote series, "Cutting taxes without cutting spending doesn't reduce taxes, it merely shifts the tax burden to our children. We have a generational opportunity - and maybe our last - to get our fiscal house in order." After matching frameworks pass the House and Senate, the relevant congressional committees will begin filling it out with policy and spending changes under their jurisdictions. Trump expressed support for the Senate framework earlier this week, saying at an unrelated event, "If we get this done, it'll be the most incredible bill ever passed in the history of our Congress."Original article source: Senate GOP pushes Trump budget framework through after marathon vote series
Bloomberg
14-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Senate Clears Way for GOP Spending Bill as Shutdown Threat Ebbs
By , Billy House, and Steven T. Dennis Save The Senate moved forward with a Republican spending plan in a crucial vote that effectively swept away the threat of a US government shutdown while exacerbating a furious struggle within the Democratic party over how to confront Donald Trump's audacious expansion of presidential power. The 62-38 vote Friday puts congressional Democrats on course to relinquish what some believed was their best hope of imposing any constraints on Trump and Elon Musk's mass firings of federal workers and wholesale elimination of federal agencies. Opponents will have to look instead to the courts.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Government shutdown looms. Will it affect weather alerts? Social Security? SNAP? Student loans?
The Senate is expected to vote Friday on a stopgap funding bill to keep the U.S. government running. Unlike previous continuing resolution showdowns, this time it's the Democrats who may vote against it in protest of President Donald Trump's policies. The Republican-controlled House approved the bill by a 217-213 vote on Tuesday, but the Senate requires a supermajority of at least 60 votes to pass. Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate and Sen. Paul Rand, R-Kentucky, has said he'll vote against it. Some Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania are against a shutdown. Democrats don't want to be blamed for a shutdown, but are against a funding extension that they say empowers President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to continue cutting government staff and spending. If the funding bill does not pass, millions of Americans would be affected almost immediately. The 99-page bill keeps the federal government funded at near-current levels until Sept. 30. If the funding measure is not passed by midnight today, the shutdown would begin at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, March 15. The federal government has to pay its bills or services stop. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed without pay for the duration. Some federal workers considered "essential," such as active-duty military, air traffic controllers, etc., are required to continue working without pay but will receive back pay once the shutdown ends. All federal agencies and services that are not deemed essential will close their doors. Hiring and training of new employees stops. Funding for SNAP and WIC programs stops. New Head Start grants will not be available. Many food, health and clean water inspections from the FDA, OSHA and the EPA would stop. The Small Business Administration stops reviewing or approving loans. As far as the public is concerned, immediately. For the government employees involved, staff deemed nonessential will have a few hours to secure their files, hand over any information essential employees might need, pay invoices incurred before the shutdown and generally close up shop. If such preparations will take longer than half a day, the Office of Management and Budget must be notified. Until Congress passes the necessary appropriations bills to fund government services and President Donald Trump signs them, however long that takes. There have been 21 shutdowns since 1977, with an average of eight days each. The longest government shutdown was 35 days during Trump's first term, from Dec. 22, 2018 to Jan. 25, 2019, the third shutdown to happen during his administration. The president with the most shutdown days was Jimmy Carter, with 56. The president with the most shutdowns was Ronald Reagan, with eight. Federal workers who are deemed essential will continue to work, but will not be paid for the duration of the shutdown and will receive back pay when it ends. Some federal employees whose jobs aren't funded by annually appropriated funds will receive their normal pay, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. However, not everyone can keep working for long without getting paid. If the shutdown continues for an extended period, expect more services to slow or fail due to staffers leaving to find other employment to feed their families. Yes, but their staffs will be working unpaid. Salaries for members of Congress have been funded by a permanent appropriation since 1983, according to the Congressional Research Service. The president will also get paid, per Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution. Not in the short term, judging from previous shutdowns. Workers at the National Hurricane Center are considered essential and will be working without pay. But social media posts may be limited to forecast and warning information only. Meanwhile, hurricane analysis and research on improving forecast models will stop, as will training for new emergency managers and any outreach or education programs. However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which oversees the National Weather Service and the hurricane center has already been forced to lay off nearly 2,000 employees in recent weeks as part of President Donald Trump's mass overhaul of the federal government. It's unclear how this may affect operations and weather forecasts. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency would still respond to disasters, a federal shutdown would greatly reduce its impact. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told a House transportation panel in 2023 that a shutdown would restrict the agency to whatever was in its Disaster Relief Fund for existing and new relief efforts. "We would have to further reduce those types of life-saving operations that we are working on based on the amount of funding that we have available," she said. The Trump administration has also laid off more than 200 FEMA employees, according to NBC News, and Trump has discussed an interest in abolishing the agency entirely and returning disaster relief to the states. Active-duty military service members will remain on active duty, including more than 69,000 military personnel in Florida, but they won't be paid until the shutdown is over. However, many other aspects of the U.S. military such as systems testing and production will be affected. "If the government shuts down, testing [of systems] will stop and acceptance by the government of equipment when it is finished and ready to be accepted [could] stop," William A. LaPlante, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, said last year. Contracts awarded before the shutdown will continue, according to Reuters, but federal contractors impacted by the shutdown will not be compensated for the time. No, The U.S. Postal Service is funded by sales of stamps and other services and is not impacted by a shutdown, the USPS said. Mail service will continue and employees will be paid as usual. No. The Veterans Benefits Administration has received advance appropriations since 2017 and any carryover balances in discretionary accounts can be allocated for current operations, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. There are over 414,000 VA employees and the department says 96% of them will be fully funded or considered essential and required to work without pay. VA healthcare payments and pensions will continue, as would the National Cemetery Administration's assorted burial functions. But direct oversight of the NCA's programs would stop. So would IT functions that are deemed necessary, anything beyond basic HR support, representation by the VA Secretary before the courts for veterans claims, any public outreach or education, investigations of misconduct for a VA leader, and multiple oversight and quality review teams. Social Security recipients will still get their checks, and Medicare benefits will not be interrupted. But employees in those departments may be furloughed on top of any losses in workforce, which may lead to delays in customer service. To comply with demands from the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency group, the Social Security Administration announced in February it would be reducing its size by 12%. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP, would continue as long as it has funds but a lengthy shutdown could result in hardships for the nearly 3 million Floridians who receive food safety net benefits. But funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) would stop immediately, according to former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in a press briefing last year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a contingency fund that may extend the program for a day or two, and some states may have leftover unspent WIC benefits that could be used to keep it going in that state for up to a few weeks. Yes. According to the Department of State's contingency plan, consular services such as passports, visas and assisting U.S. citizens abroad will remain "100% operational," as long as there are sufficient fees to support operations. Passport offices that are in larger government buildings may be forced to shut down, however, for lack of access. Possibly, if the shutdown continues for very long. But short term, you may not notice since TSA agents and air traffic controllers are considered essential employees. What stops will be development of new air traffic control specialists, facility security inspections, routine background investigations, development and testing of new technologies, air traffic performance analysis, law enforcement assistance support and various other administrative functions. During previous shutdowns, effects on travel were minimal. However, the Trump administration has fired hundreds of air traffic controllers — although it is now trying to bring more in — and fired more than 200 TSA employees before ending collective bargaining for nearly 50,000 TSA officers last week. It's unclear how long the remaining employees would choose to continue doing the job unpaid if the shutdown stretches on. Unclear. There are no specific laws requiring them to shut down, although employees would be limited to law enforcement and other necessary personnel. During past shutdowns in 2013 and 2018 the government decided to keep them open and close them down, respectively, and both decisions received backlash. Last year, the U.S. Coast Guard estimated that most its employees would be retained during the shutdown. All emergency and life-saving functions will continue but any non-essential services will stop. Yes. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Government shutdown and services that would be reduced or closed
