Trump urges Senate Republicans to advance House budget framework before August recess

President Trump is pressing Senate Republicans to pass a House-approved budget framework before the August recess, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the proposal does not currently have the 50 votes needed to advance. The House framework would provide $73 billion in new defense spending and fund reforms in the SAVE America Act, but Republican senators said they are not ready to move without more clarity on the contents of the eventual reconciliation package, the amendment votes Democrats could force ahead of the midterm election and whether the measure can survive Senate parliamentarian review. Trump called passage of the resolution a critical first step and said it could be adopted by a simple majority. But several GOP senators publicly raised objections. Susan Collins said the Senate should prioritize a continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 4 and noted the package would need to go through the parliamentarian's "Byrd Bath." Joni Ernst said she wants more transparency on the Pentagon's needs before backing a plan to send an additional $70 billion to the Defense Department, while Roger Wicker said any reconciliation package should provide considerably more than the $73 billion in the House framework. The debate is also exposing a split between defense hawks seeking more funding and fiscal conservatives demanding that any new spending for defense, farmers and election reforms be offset by cuts elsewhere. Rand Paul said he would not support using reconciliation to expand the debt, and Bill Cassidy said he wants the package to be paid for. The talks have been further complicated by Trump's late push to include a debt-limit increase covering the final two years of his presidency. Thune said Trump is "keenly interested" in handling the issue while Republicans still control both chambers, but warned that doing so before the election would make passage more difficult because conservatives would demand major spending cuts. He also said the House framework could involve as many as 12 to 15 Senate committees, increasing the risk of politically difficult amendment votes because germane amendments could pass with a simple majority.