Senate Won’t Take Up House Budget Resolution Until Government Funding Passes: Thune

The budget resolution would unlock the process on a $95 billion reconciliation bill that can bypass the Senate filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) speaks in Washington on June 23, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

The Senate will not take up a House budget blueprint until the upper congressional chamber passes legislation to fund the government past the November midterm elections, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said during a press conference on July 21.

“We’ll see if they what they get done this week and what it all consists of,” Thune said, referring to the House. “I will say that if they give us a budget resolution as a vehicle, we will hold that, subject to obviously being able to move a continuing resolution to fund the government.”

The budget resolution would unlock the process on a $95 billion reconciliation bill that can bypass the Senate filibuster. The House advanced the budget resolution on July 21 and is scheduled to vote on it this week, which would allow for Republicans to pass a $95 billion bill to allocate funding for the Department of War, assistance to farmers, and incentivize states to implement voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements to register to vote and to cast a ballot.

Thune went on to say “it’s a possibility that, if necessary,” Senate Republicans could fund the government through amending the House’s budget resolution if Democrats do not cooperate on passing a continuing resolution to fund the government. The House is scheduled to pass the government funding bill on July 21.

The Senate GOP leader acknowledged that the Senate voting on the budget resolution “would be something that would get punted into September.”

The $95 billion budget resolution, which House Republicans released on July 15, is the third attempt at reconciliation. It could be an issue for fiscal hawks as there are no offsets in it.

The resolution includes $60 billion for the Department of War, $13 billion for the intelligence community, $12 billion in assistance to America’s farmers, and $10 billion for states to implement parts of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to vote in federal elections.

The same resolution must pass the House and Senate to unlock the reconciliation process, which allows legislation related to taxing, spending, and the national debt to pass with just 51 votes in the Senate. A simple majority is also required to pass a budget resolution.

Instructions in the budget resolution call for the House Intelligence Committee, the House Agriculture Committee, the House Administration Committee, and the House Armed Services Committee to mark up the legislation.

“As a reminder, this legislative vehicle is our best shot at accomplishing two key objectives of the people of this country,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on July 21. “These are very popular and important and necessary objectives.”

There has been criticism of the resolution, including from Republicans.

Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) told reporters on July 20 that his concerns are multifaceted. He said there is no extension of defunding for Planned Parenthood and that there are no offsets.

“You’re not addressing some of the key issues that Americans really want us to address, which is the affordability issues,” he said. “We’re missing a huge opportunity, and so if you could address any of that stuff, I would probably be on board, but just to spend more money and put us into a deficit, that’s not why I ran for office.”

Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.