While lawmakers had been hoping to work this month on a third budget resolution that would set the framework for another filibuster-proof reconciliation bill, some suggested Wednesday that a budget blueprint might slip into July.
“I don’t think we’ll do a markup before July,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a member of the Budget Committee. “We don’t have the time now, unless we get called back into session.”
The risk of a time slip underscored the growing doubts about the ability and willpower of Republicans to coalesce around a third budget reconciliation package before the midterm elections, following last year’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending package and the recent immigration enforcement funding measure.
Some top Senate Republicans have already dismissed the idea of a third reconciliation package as impractical, given the limited number of legislative days left before campaign season kicks in.
But House GOP leaders, particularly Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have maintained a bullish optimism that a reconciliation bill can still be passed in time.
