The Senate Budget Committee may not pass a budget resolution for fiscal 2018, panel member Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Tuesday.
“I’m not even sure there’s going to be a budget that comes through committee,” Corker said, noting that there is no current movement on advancing a resolution.
Instead, Senate leadership could move a bill as they see fit, complete with reconciliation instructions for tax reform and possible mandatory cuts.
{mosads}“Because we’ve gone beyond the effective date of April whatever, [leaders] have the ability to just deem something to the floor, and I don’t know that the committee itself is even going to take action,” Corker continued.
But a spokesman for the Budget Committee said that Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) is intent on moving forward.
“Chairman Enzi has consistently said we are going to do a budget this year, and continues to have discussions with members of his committee on the best path forward,” the spokesman said.
The specter of the Senate Budget Committee removing itself from the budgeting process further highlights the chamber’s departure from normal order this year.
Despite the absence of a budget from the committee, Senate appropriators have already begun passing bills on the assumption that spending levels will remain the same as in 2017.
In the House, the Budget Committee passed a resolution that dramatically boosted military spending, while cutting nondefense discretionary and some mandatory spending. That resolution passed hours after the House Appropriations Committee marked up the last of the 12 appropriations bills.
The House budget resolution still lacks the support of enough Republicans to pass on the floor.
With government funding set to run out at the end of September, the distance between the House and Senate on their spending plans is adding to uncertainty about the possibility of a government shutdown come October.