Thune open to third military funding reconciliation package

Key facts

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune is open to a third budget reconciliation package for military funding.
• Key Republican senators Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell expressed doubts about the feasibility of such a package.
• Previous reconciliation packages were used to extend tax cuts and fund immigration enforcement.
• Thune stated that any new defense spending would need offsets to address the federal deficit.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has indicated that a third budget reconciliation package to fund the military is a possibility, despite reservations from senior Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Thune stated that if there is sufficient support, a reconciliation bill could pass with 218 votes in the House and 50 in the Senate, suggesting that military funding would be a central focus.

This stance contrasts with the views of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Collins cautioned against relying on a third reconciliation bill for substantial defense funding, preferring the regular appropriations process. McConnell expressed strong doubt, stating that another reconciliation bill is not an option.

Congress has previously utilized the budget reconciliation process. Last year, a package extended President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and allocated an additional $150 billion for the military. More recently, a second package provided approximately $70 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol after Democrats blocked regular funding.

Republicans have also considered using reconciliation for other priorities, including affordability and reducing fraud in social programs. The administration had previously requested about $350 million in defense spending be achieved through reconciliation. Thune noted that any new spending would require offsets, such as savings from waste, fraud, and abuse, to mitigate the impact on the federal deficit, and he did not rule out the possibility depending on the bill's contents.