This week: Reconciliation bill rewrites underway

Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call on May 18, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans officially were back to the drawing board after the Senate parliamentarian concluded that security spending related to the proposed White House ballroom did not past muster under budget reconciliation rules.

Still, they aim to get a bill through to passage this week, with a vote-a-rama expected before the Senate’s Memorial Day recess. The bill would provide nearly $72 billion mostly for immigration enforcement funding. President Donald Trump has said he wants the reconciliation measure on his desk by June 1.

The Senate parliamentarian advised Saturday that a $1 billion provision for Secret Service funding connected to a proposed White House ballroom would violate the chamber’s Byrd rule governing budget reconciliation bills. The guidance from the official arbiter of the reconciliation process means the provision as currently drafted would almost surely need to be struck from the GOP bill.

Democrats from the Senate Budget Committee have had modest success so far in undermining the proposals from Republicans, identifying provisions that are not allowed under the Byrd rule. As drafted, the funding was found to fall under the jurisdiction other than the Judiciary Committee, Democrats said.

“While we expect Republicans to change this bill to appease Trump, Democrats are prepared to challenge any change to this bill. We cannot let Republicans waste our national treasure on a mission of chaos and corruption while turning a blind eye to the needs of the American people,” Senate Budget ranking member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a statement.

Ryan Wrasse, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., downplayed the significance of any changes made due to the Byrd rule. “Redraft. Refine. Resubmit. None of this is abnormal during a Byrd process,” he wrote on social platform X.

The Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday morning to compile the bill, but until the reconciliation text is ready, the Senate will be working on processing more of the president’s nominations.

Thune has teed up an en bloc package of 49 nominations for confirmation Monday evening. He also has moved to limit debate on judicial nominations.

The procedural maneuvering in the Senate has the House in a wait-and-see mode.

House lawmakers are scheduled to return for legislative business on Tuesday. Among the key items on the House agenda is the legislation to set standards for name, image and likeness rights for student athletes.

The House may also vote on an amended version of Senate-passed housing legislation, with the vote expected to come under suspension of the rules, an expedited process that requires a two-thirds vote for passage.

But Trump says the measure should be leveraged to help pass a federal overhaul of voting laws.

“We cannot, as a Country, put up with this any longer!!! Voter I.D., and Proof of Citizenship, must be approved, NOW,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. “Crooked Mail-In Voting must be stopped!!! PUT IT ALL IN THE HOUSING AND FISA BILLS. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Highway bill revs up

There’s plenty of other legislative business at the committee level, including ongoing work on fiscal 2027 spending bills. The House Appropriations Committee is slated to mark up the Energy-Water and Legislative Branch bills on Wednesday.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee could meet this week to mark up a bipartisan highway bill. The bill text, released Sunday, would require a first-ever annual registration fee for owners of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, starting out at $135 and $35, respectively.

“I’m extremely proud of the historic level of investment in America’s bridges — at more than $50 billion, it’s the largest such investment in our history,” Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., said in a statement. And he said the bill “ensures that electric vehicle owners begin paying their fair share for the use of our roads.”

Other House panels, including the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee, also are expected to mark up their pieces of the highway package as soon as this week.

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Paul M. Krawzak contributed to this report.