Standout Amendments in Sen. Sanders’ $3.5 Trillion Budget

Sen. Bernie Sanders (L) (I-Vt.) walks with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) after meeting on a $3.5 trillion budged in Washington on Aug. 9, 2021. Win McNamee/Getty Images

As the Republicans and Democrats worked together to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Tuesday morning, another proposal in the Senate has been far more contentious: Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) $3.5 trillion budget resolution. The infrastructure bill and the budget resolution make up what Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called President Joe Biden’s “two-track strategy.” While the infrastructure bill satisfied legislators on both sides of the political aisle, Republicans and even some moderate Democrats have expressed opposition to or hesitance about supporting the budget’s $3.5 trillion price tag. The resolution only advanced in the Senate Wednesday in a 50–49 vote after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) reluctantly agreed to vote with the party.

The Senate has been considering and amending the resolution since February of this year. During the course of that time, many amendments to the budget were proposed by both sides; many of those were shot down on a party-line vote. Here are some of the amendments—some that the Senate rejected, and some that it accepted—that stand out the most.

Collins Joins Senate Democrats to Reject Freedom of Religion Amendment

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) pressed for the budget to include a spending-neutral reserve fund (i.e., it would not affect government spending) to prohibit “infringement on the free exercise of religion.” This amendment also failed in a 50–50 vote. The vote was not strictly party line, as Sen. Collins (R-Maine) defected and joined with Democrats to reject the proposal; Manchin joined Republicans in supporting the amendment.

Sen. Paul Counters with Budget-Surplus Plan

In the first proposed amendment to the bill, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) provided a far-reaching substitution for Sanders’ budget. Under Paul’s plan, legislation would have been focused entirely on reducing the federal deficit, with Paul even estimating budget surpluses for FY 2021–25. Paul’s estimations for surplus values during this period under his budget were:

• Fiscal year 2021: $1.687 trillion
• Fiscal year 2022: $1.115 trillion
• Fiscal year 2023: $823 billion
• Fiscal year 2024: $587 billion
• Fiscal year 2025: $332 billion

Beyond this, it stipulated that aggregate federal revenues should not change at all between FY 2021 and FY 2031, meaning that there would be no change in taxes. To achieve the results of reducing the deficit and national debt, Paul’s budget instead focused on cutting spending.