Senate Republicans finally unveil budget blueprint for Trumps big, beautiful agenda

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans unveiled their long-awaited budget blueprint for President Trump’s “big, beautiful” agenda Wednesday, moving ahead of the House to propose a $5 trillion increase to the debt limit and make 2017 federal tax cuts permanent.The 70-page measure included key differences from the one adopted by the House in February, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) claimed it had been reviewed by the chamber’s parliamentarian, who has stymied similarly ambitious pieces of legislation in the past.After the Senate passes the blueprint and syncs up with the House, it will unlock the process needed to actually start drafting Trump’s marquee agenda package — including the debt ceiling hike and tax cuts as well as border security, defense spending increases and energy reform.“Republicans in the Senate and the House are committed to working with President Trump to stop Democrats from imposing an automatic $4 trillion tax hike on the American people at the end of this year,” Thune said in a statement.“The Senate parliamentarian has reviewed the Budget Committee’s substitute amendment and deemed it appropriate for consideration under the Budget Act.”Significantly, the House blueprint called for a $4 trillion increase to the debt limit, while the Senate’s version called for a $5 trillion increase.The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget knocked the blueprint, saying in a press release: “Reconciliation should reduce deficits.”“This budget would set the stage for the largest deficit increase ever — three times as large as the American Rescue Plan, four times larger than the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and 75 percent larger than all bipartisan COVID relief combined,” the release noted.“And it doesn’t even attempt to match up its savings with the House’s hard-fought $2 trillion.”The budget resolution also has a line item allowing a defense spending increase of $150 billion over the next decade.It will...