Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Thursday he does not have the 50 votes needed to advance a House-passed budget resolution that would unlock a $95 billion reconciliation package covering Iran war funding, farm aid, and election law reforms.
“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 told reporters on Capitol Hill.
The House passed the budget framework earlier this week. It would allocate $73 billion for military and intelligence operations related to the ongoing Iran conflict, $12 billion in farm assistance, and $10 billion for voting law changes including provisions of the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot.
Thune said the Senate’s immediate priority remains funding the federal government before the September 30 deadline. He said he would continue discussions with the Republican conference but stopped short of offering a timeline for the reconciliation package.
“We’ll see. We’ll have those conversations with the conference. The priority is funding the government. To me that’s the thing we got to keep our eyes on,” he said.
The budget resolution is critical to the reconciliation process, which allows Republicans to pass legislation through the Senate with a simple majority and bypass a Democratic filibuster. Without it, the $95 billion package stalls in the upper chamber.
Thune signaled earlier in the week that he may hold the House-passed budget resolution as a potential vehicle for a continuing resolution to fund the government through December if other options collapse. The House separately passed a stopgap measure Tuesday to fund the government through Dec. 4.
The Senate leader also warned that any election integrity measures included in a reconciliation package would need to survive scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian. He said elements of the SAVE America Act would require careful structuring to qualify under reconciliation rules.
“It’s a possibility that if necessary we could pull that budget resolution passed by the House and use it to fund government. I hope that’s not necessary,” he said Tuesday.
