Reporter's Notebook: GOP clash over ‘skinny’ vs ‘obese’ DHS bill as Trump agenda looms
If it’s up to top Senate GOP leaders, the next budget reconciliation package to finally fund the Department of Homeland Security will be on a fiscal cocktail of Wegovy and...
By Fox News · Fox News
If it’s up to top Senate GOP leaders, the next budget reconciliation package to finally fund the Department of Homeland Security will be on a fiscal cocktail of Wegovy and Ozempic. But other Republicans want this measure to be a high-calorie, political feast. Pop-Tarts, Sour Cream and Onion potato chips from Pringles, topped with Reese’s Pieces and a side of Häagen-Dazs chocolate peanut butter ice cream. All washed down with an entire two-liter of Mountain Dew. Stymied by Democrats — and in many cases themselves — congressional Republicans are now teeing up a reconciliation package to end the two-month-long DHS funding stalemate. By using budget reconciliation as a tool, Republicans can ignore Democrats, sidestep a Senate filibuster and prospectively pass the bill on their own. If they all stick together. GOP INFIGHTING REPLACES CLASH WITH DEMS, DERAILS PATH TO END HISTORIC DHS SHUTDOWN There’s a push by Senate Majority Leader John Thune , R-S.D., to prep a bill as svelte as possible, since DHS has been penniless for so long. "We're going to move quickly, decisively, and hopefully in a very focused way," said Thune. This is why Republicans call this a "skinny" bill, devoted to ending the shutdown. "We want to fund ICE and Border Patrol and maybe a few other things. But very narrow. Very focused," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham , R-S.C. But not everyone in the Senate Republican Conference is on parliamentary Weight Watchers. Some want to stuff the reconciliation bill with tens of billions of dollars to cover the cost of the war in Iran. Others want to include the touchstone of Trump’s legislative agenda, the SAVE America Act. It requires proof of citizenship in order to vote. There’s a push to tack on farm aid. Others are arguing for disaster relief. HOUSE CONSERVATIVES RAGE AGAINST SENATE DHS SHUTDOWN DEAL "It doesn't need to be skinny. We need to do the SAVE America Act. We need to fund the war. We need to do whatever President Trump needs to…