Top Senate Republicans believe the chances of a third reconciliation bill are bleak despite the plans of House leaders, who are already crafting one, even before the party’s slim border package finally limped across the finish line on Tuesday.
House Republicans for weeks have stoked chatter about passing a third single-party measure this summer. However, those discussions hit a dose of reality on Tuesday as a pair of leading Senate Republicans publicly declared they believe a third bill ain’t happening — a decision that has scores of political and national security ramifications.
“I think it’s safe to conclude there will not be another reconciliation bill,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, chair of the Appropriations defense subcommittee, said during a hearing Tuesday, pointing to the Pentagon’s call to pass $350 billion of President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget using the process to get around a Democratic filibuster..