GOP Lawmakers Raise Doubts on Prospects of Third Budget Bill

Some key Republicans in Congress are throwing cold water on prospects for passing a third party-line budget bill, even as House GOP leaders insist they can move another mammoth legislative package this summer.

“I think it’s safe to conclude there will not be another reconciliation bill,” former Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said at subcommittee hearing Tuesday. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who helms the powerful Appropriations Committee, said she agreed with that assessment.

The hearing at the Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee was to review President Donald Trump‘s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request for the Air Force. Collins expressed concerns about relying on the administration proposing funding certain programs through the reconciliation process rather than the annual appropriations measure given the uncertainty of another effort at reconciliation, which she called “a bill that may never happen.”

“I would just suggest that it is taking a terrible risk and creates instability when you’re counting on a third reconciliation bill for the bulk of the money rather than doing base funding through the defense appropriations bill,” she said.

The Senate GOP pessimism comes as House Republican leaders convene committee and caucus chairs to negotiate a reconciliation bill that would be the third such party-line endeavor in the 119th Congress. House Republicans are aiming to pass the second party-line budget bill Tuesday after it advanced out of the Senate last week.

“The speaker is completely committed” to reconciliation 3.0, House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said this week. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his leadership team have repeatedly said they’re planning to pass the bill this summer.

But even in the House, some Republicans aren’t convinced they can manage such a heavy lift. The House is scheduled to be in session for just five weeks before the monthlong August recess. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, said her committee hasn’t had “any discussions” about including tax provisions in the third bill.

“I know that members of Ways and Means Committee feel strongly that, unless there’s going to be tax provisions in there to reduce taxes further for middle-class families and senior citizens, that they don’t support a reconciliation three,” Malliotakis said.