Senate Republicans are pumping the brakes on a year-end omnibus spending package as Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) are locked in a battle to become the next Senate GOP leader.
Senators had thought they would be able to squeeze Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) into bringing a trillion-dollar-plus package to the House floor if it was paired with federal disaster relief.
But the appetite among Senate Republicans for jamming Johnson with a huge spending bill is fading.
One Senate Republican source said “the bandwidth is not there” but cautioned that political conditions could change depending on the election’s outcome.
Senate Republicans are growing increasingly optimistic that former President Trump will win the general election, and very few are willing to run afoul of Trump by backing an omnibus spending package he would likely oppose.
Trump made it clear in September he opposed a short-term continuing resolution that set the stage for lawmakers passing a huge omnibus package in December. Trump opposed the bill in part because it did not include legislation to require documented proof of citizenship for voter registration.
Russ Vought, Trump’s former director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has argued to GOP lawmakers that spending decisions for fiscal 2025 should be pushed into next year to give a new Trump administration — if elected — the chance to shape the debate.
Vought told Real America’s Voice in September that Senate Republicans should pull out all the stops to avoid passing an omnibus in December.
“That’s what lame ducks produce, they produce bad policy and bad bills, one of which is an omnibus bill,” he said, warning such a bill would fund the federal government at “woke and weaponized high levels of bureaucracy … for a quarter of what I hope to be President Trump’s second term.”
“I’m very worried [if] we have a big bill like this, they put in things that tie his hands,” he warned.
Thune and Cornyn are vying for the support of Trump and conservative colleagues. Senate sources warn that if either candidate supports a year-end omnibus funding package, it may hurt their chances of being elected to succeed retiring Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.).
Thune and his wife met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in March in what The Wall Street Journal reported was aimed at defusing the tension in their relationship.
Scott, a Trump ally, is a vocal critic of omnibus spending packages and closely aligned with Senate and House conservatives who want to reform the appropriations process.
Backing an omnibus Trump opposes after being elected as the new Senate GOP leader wouldn’t be a great way to start a new working relationship if Trump indeed defeats Vice President Harris next month.
Senate Steering Committee Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah), an influential conservative, has proposed several reforms to the Senate GOP conference rules designed to make it very difficult to pass another omnibus.
In a letter to colleagues circulated last week, he argued the next Senate GOP leader should propose a structure process and floor schedule for considering the annual spending bills so they are less likely to get crammed into a giant omnibus package at the end of the year.
He also proposed requiring that the next Senate GOP leader gives Senate colleagues at least four weeks to debate and amend any omnibus spending bill that reaches the floor.
The other key consideration is Johnson’s future as Speaker.
Johnson says he is committed to passing disaster relief for states hit hard by hurricanes Helene and Milton, but he has tried to rule out the possibility of passing another huge omnibus package before Christmas.
Some Senate Democrats had thought they could put pressure on Johnson to pass an omnibus by pairing it with disaster relief, but that plan is losing momentum.
“The biggest thing is the Johnson element,” said a Senate GOP aide. “If they can hold onto [the majority] over there, his job depends on” not passing an omnibus.
The aide said there are a “handful” of House GOP lawmakers who would threaten to oppose Johnson’s reelection as leader and that if he allowed an omnibus to pass, the opposition to him would be “insurmountable.”
Senate GOP leaders have a good working relationship with Johnson and are reluctant to undermine him with an omnibus.
House Republicans say Johnson will support a robust disaster relief package for Hurricane victims in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. That package could be paired with another continuing resolution that punts the annual spending bills into 2025.
A House Republican aide reiterated the Speaker’s commitment to “breaking the omnibus governing tradition” and his commitment to “the needs of Americans suffering from hurricane-related disasters.”
Still, aides in both parties caution the political calculus on Capitol Hill will depend very much on what happens in the Nov. 5 election.
If Harris defeats Trump and Democrats win the House majority, it’s unclear if Johnson would even remain as minority leader in the House. He might face less pressure, however, on the subject of the omnibus.
Trump also would have substantially less influence over Senate Republicans — especially Thune and Cornyn — if he fails to win a second term. He has already said he wouldn’t run for president in 2028.
There are also powerful Republican advocates for getting the annual appropriations work wrapped up before Christmas instead of pushing it into the next Congress.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is poised to become the next chair of the Appropriations Committee if Republicans win control of the Senate, has warned that passing another stopgap lasting until March would create a backlog of work for the next president.
“It’s a mistake to have a CR that goes beyond December because regardless of who wins the presidential election, we should be presenting them with a clean slate. They should not have the burden of dealing with issues of a fiscal year that began in October,” she said in September.
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