What Will Happen to “Reconciliation 3.0” With Lindsey Graham Gone?

The sudden death last week of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has thrown a question mark into congressional Republicans’ agenda over the coming months. This includes negotiations over whether to pass a third reconciliation bill, and what provisions to include in it.

Bypassing the Filibuster

Graham, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Budget, had been working on legislation that would appropriate additional funding for the Department of Defense, among other priorities. As a reconciliation bill, it would require only a simple majority to pass, bypassing the Senate filibuster. The current Congress previously enacted the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), U.S. President Donald Trump’s signature spending and policy legislation, and the Secure America Act, which provided funding for border security and immigration enforcement, using the same process.

House Taking the Lead

With Graham gone, the U.S. House appears to be taking the lead on the process. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) is seeking to rally his GOP members around the proposal. The House Committee on the Budget on Thursday passed a resolution to advance the bill to the House floor. The advanced proposal appropriated an additional $73 billion to the Department of Defense and $12 billion for farm assistance, and created an election-grant program promoting policies in the proposed SAVE America Act.

New Senate Leadership

In the Senate, Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is set to replace Graham as chairman of the Budget Committee. Johnson is publicly supportive of a third reconciliation bill, and said on Monday that he had “already met with Lindsey’s staff” to discuss the legislation. However, Johnson is more conservative than Graham — he holds a lifetime Freedom Index score of 72 percent compared to Graham’s 57 percent — and is more skeptical about federal spending. He may seek greater spending cuts to offset the supplemental appropriations in the bill — and may be constitutionalists’ greatest hope of mitigating another OBBB-esque big-spending debacle.

There’s no guarantee that a third reconciliation bill will pass, particularly with the GOP’s slim congressional majorities. Regardless of the outcome, though, Graham’s untimely death is affecting the process. 

This is an updated and slightly edited version of an article in The New American’s weekly online newsletter Insider Report, which is emailed to TNA subscribers each week. Click here to subscribe to The New American to receive the Insider Report and access exclusive content.