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President Donald Trump wants Congress to supercharge military funding and pass stalled voter ID and citizenship verification legislation in one fell swoop, but many Republicans aren’t sold on the plan.
Trump on Wednesday called on congressional Republicans to steer around Democrats' opposition again and "immediately" pass a third budget reconciliation package, including $350 billion in defense spending coupled with the stalled Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.
"This is a GENERATIONAL Investment in our Military, even bigger than President Reagan’s! Recon 3.0 is the ONLY path to the full $1.5 TRILLION DOLLAR Military Budget our Warriors need in order to build THE ARSENAL OF FREEDOM," Trump said on Truth Social.
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The president’s request came just hours after he signed Republicans’ second budget reconciliation bill into law that would fund immigration enforcement through the rest of his presidency for $70 billion. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act was also passed through budget reconciliation.
But many Republicans are lukewarm at best to the idea of restarting the budget reconciliation process, which would require strict party unity amid a dwindling calendar of legislative days heading into the November midterm elections.
The GOP has also yet to fully come around to Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense spending request, and some lawmakers have voiced concern about circumventing the normal appropriations process to boost defense spending.
Trump’s plea for a third bite at the apple comes as he and congressional Republicans are increasingly at odds over policy decisions that have made passing legislation on the Hill all the more difficult.
Some Republicans who have pushed for a third attempt at the party-line process have acknowledged that it’s unlikely to work. Further, Congress is unlikely to pass any other bills before the midterm elections in November because of Democratic opposition.
"I think it's a very, very long shot that anything passes between now and the midterms," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. "It gives me heartburn to say that, but I think that's political reality."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., didn’t completely close the door on another reconciliation bill, but he noted that there is skepticism among Republicans on moving forward.
"You’ve got to have something that you can win on," Thune said. "And you’ve heard some of our folks already express their views on another reconciliation bill."
Earlier in the week, during a contentious Senate Appropriations hearing, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., both agreed that another reconciliation bill was unlikely to happen, particularly as a dumping ground for billions in additional defense spending.
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Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said, "Reconciliation is not the best approach."
"It would be very difficult to get the reconciliation bill approved," Collins said.
Discussions on a third reconciliation package were underway in the House prior to Trump’s public endorsement. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has voiced confidence that his chamber will clear a third budget bill by the August recess.
But some GOP lawmakers have questioned its viability amid Republicans’ slim majority and the potential lack of a unifying policy idea to keep the conference together.
"I haven't quite heard enough policy proposals that lead me to think it's going to gel, but I’m certainly open-minded," Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., a Republican-turned-independent who voted against Trump’s $70 billion immigration enforcement measure, indicated he isn’t likely to support a third attempt.
"We have now gotten to this habit of one party takes power, they do reconciliation bills and the other party does it, and this cycle hasn't been good," the California lawmaker told Fox News Digital. "It's one of the things that fed the cycles of dysfunction that we have around here."
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