Senate will tackle border security first, incoming budget chair says

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is poised to oversee the first major legislative package in the new Congress, said Monday that border security will be his “first” priority, topping even tax cuts and spending reforms.

Mr. Graham, who is slated to become chair of the budget committee, also said he will find a way to pay for the border security changes so they don’t deepen the deficit.

His comments come amid an internal GOP debate about how to package their 2025 legislative agenda to get early wins for the party and President-elect Donald Trump, knowing it will be difficult to get the legislation through narrow House and Senate Republican majorities.

The key to most of their agenda is budget reconciliation, a tool to pass legislation through Congress without having to face a filibuster in the Senate. It’s a powerful tool, but one that has limits in terms of how frequently it can be deployed and what issues it can cover.

Mr. Graham, in a statement, made clear he will prioritize immigration changes and supports making multiple attempts to use the reconciliation process.

“While I support spending restrictions and tax cuts, my top priority — and the first order of business in the Senate Budget Committee — is to secure a broken border,” he said. “The bill will be transformational, it will be paid for, and it will go first.”

Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump and incoming deputy chief of staff for policy, on Sunday urged Congress to put an immigration enforcement bill on the incoming president’s desk by February.

Mr. Miller, speaking on Fox News, said he wants to hike the budget for deportations, Border Patrol agents and the border wall.

Mr. Trump has vowed to carry out “mass” deportations of unauthorized immigrants, starting with criminals. Analysts have said Homeland Security lacks the capacity — and, under the Biden administration, the will — to carry out that sort of operation.

Mr. Trump has said he will supply the political will.

But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will need an infusion of cash to fund detention beds, so the immigrants can be held instead of released, and to fund flights so those from noncontiguous countries can be sent back.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Senate Republicans during a policy conference last week that his preference is to pursue a two-track approach for reconciliation legislation. The first track could include national security priorities like border security, defense and energy, while a second track would focus on taxes, he said.

That news drew immediate pushback from House Republicans who have spent months discussing the idea of one big reconciliation package. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, Missouri Republican, has said he does not want to defer taxes to a second bill that may never come because of the need to avoid sweeping tax hikes that are set to take effect at the end of 2025 absent congressional action. 

“Right now, most folks advising Speaker [Mike] Johnson would like to see us move quickly and boldly on the full agenda. There’s a sense that if we don’t move quickly, it’s going to be harder to get big things done,” South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson, who chairs the Republican Main Street Caucus, told The Washington Times. 

When asked about the House pushback, Mr. Thune said Republicans “all want the same things,” but strategy for how to get there is always a tough debate. While no final decisions had been made about the sequencing of legislative priorities, he said he would continue to make the case that holding taxes for a second reconciliation bill makes sense. 

“Obviously, to get a path forward when you have unified control of government, sometimes it’s challenging because you’ve got to have the House, Senate and White House all pull in the same direction,” Mr. Thune said. “So eventually we’ll get there.”