Mitch McConnell

The Senate’s top Republican appropriators are dismissing the Trump administration’s demand for a third party-line funding push.

Republicans have warily obeyed President Donald Trump’s orders to sidestep their Democratic colleagues and pass last year’s tax and spending legislation and, more recently, immigration enforcement funding, but they’re taking a stand against a third reconciliation attempt. The White House has asked Congress for $350 billion in defense resources it could provide through the challenging, lengthy budgetary process used to skirt minority opposition.

“It’s safe to conclude there will not be another reconciliation bill, so it’s really not an option,” Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell, chair of the Appropriations Committee’s defense panel, said at a hearing Tuesday.

The subcommittee was entertaining the Air Force’s justification for its proposed budget, of which a significant portion would materialize through reconciliation. Senator Susan Collins, a subcommittee member and head of its parent panel, agreed with McConnell’s assessment.

“I would just suggest that it is taking a terrible risk and creates instability when you’re counting on a third reconciliation bill for the bulk of the money, rather than doing base funding through the defense appropriations bill,” she told Air Force Secretary Troy Meink.

Reconciliation requires majority party members to largely fall in line, meaning rank-and-file holdouts can grind progress to a halt. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was passed only after a series of revisions, and Congress similarly struggled to fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection this year. Democrats fiercely opposed both bills.

Trump has asked Republicans to put aside their concerns, demanding in a Wednesday Truth Social post they engage in “no games, no delays, and no weak compromises!”

“No other President has ever been more committed to both REBUILDING our Great Military and SAVING our Great Country — And NOW is the time to make it happen, for Generations to come,” Trump wrote.

Democrats, while expecting the GOP to bypass their obstruction, have attacked the party for its priorities. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has denounced the costs of the president’s war with Iran, accused Republicans last month of putting Trump’s demands ahead of the public’s.

“Republicans will not work this hard to lower your costs, lower your rent, lower your grocery bill, but they worked overtime to protect Trump’s priorities,” he said in a speech on the GOP’s reconciliation attempts.

The clock is ticking for the party to pass more significant legislation ahead of the midterm elections. Republican and independent voters are increasingly dissatisfied with Congress, which they picked the GOP to control a year and a half ago.