President Donald Trump on Friday publicly pressured Senate Majority Leader John Thune to bring a House-passed $95 billion budget resolution to a vote before senators leave Washington for the August recess.
“I am asking that the Senate adopt a Budget Resolution, which can pass with a simple Majority, before leaving for the August recess. We are ready to work side-by-side with the Senate to get this done for the American People!” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social.
The message came one day after Thune told reporters he does not yet have the votes to advance the measure. “As I’ve said before, you got to get to 50, and I can’t count to 50 right now on a budget resolution,” Thune said Thursday.
The House passed the budget framework this week. It includes $73 billion in funding for the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, $12 billion for farmers and $10 billion for election-related reforms. Passing a joint budget resolution through both chambers would unlock the reconciliation process, allowing Republicans to pass legislation with a simple majority and bypass a Democratic filibuster.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt escalated the pressure on Thursday, warning that Trump’s “patience is running out” with Thune and that “the Senate needs to do its job.”
Thune pushed back directly. “Maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes,” he told reporters. “It’s 50 around here.” He added: “Instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats.”
The exchange is the latest sign of widening friction between the White House and Senate Republicans. Two days before Friday’s Truth Social post, Trump told a rally crowd in Georgia that “the Senate is a place you send things when you want them to die.”
