Senate Republicans are scrambling to work with a Trump-approved budget recently passed by the House.

“It’s complicated. It’s hard. Nothing about this is going to be easy,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. “There are some things that we need to work with the House package to expand upon.”

While Senate Republicans celebrated the House’s passage of the bill, many claim it doesn’t make Trump’s 2017 tax breaks permanent and are worried about cuts to Medicaid needed to fund the House’s proposal, the Hill reported.

The House’s bill comes after the Senate had attempted to move its own budget resolution earlier this month to advance President Trump’s agenda, according to the Hill.

But the House vote on Tuesday has the Senate scrambling to insert its agenda and work with the process of “budget reconciliation,” which bypasses a potential Senate filibuster.

Ted Cruz celebrated the House’s passing of the budget resolution that puts the Senate on its heels. “Failure is not an option,” Cruz declared.

The House passing the Budget Resolution is a strong step toward delivering our promises to the voters.

In November, we were given a mandate for change by the American people.

– Secure the border.
– Unleash American energy.
– Rebuild the military.
– Revive the economy. pic.twitter.com/30SWWAChTc

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 27, 2025

“Now, the work starts over here,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo told reporters. “I haven’t developed a topline [for taxes] yet. We’re going to start working on what we need to do,” Crapo said. “Now that we know the House numbers on the cuts that they’ve put in their instructions, and now that we know where they are … on the baseline, we’ll start working on our adjustments.”

Making Trump’s tax cuts permanent is top priority for Republican Senate members, and a main talking point by Democrats who of course, want more taxes.

“They’re just flat-out lying,” Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin said of his Democrat cohorts. “The president has been very clear,” Mullin continued as he blasted lying Democrats. “We’re not cutting benefits to Social Security, were’ not cutting benefits in Medicare.”

One thing that makes my skin crawl: Senate liberals flat out lying about the Trump admin and budget reconciliation.

Let’s get into it. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/SZEjRq6t28

— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) February 26, 2025

Numerous senators have also become agitated about Medicaid reductions. The House’s proposal instructs the Energy and Commerce Committee to identify $880 billion in savings, a target that even certain Republicans claim cannot be achieved without cutting Medicaid, according to The Hill.

“I’m not going to vote for Medicaid cuts,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said, citing more than one-fifth of Missourians are either on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), The Hill reported. “It’ll need to be changed. I know there’s a lot of people on our side who want a bunch of changes.”

Meanwhile, Republican Senate and House members are attempting to seek common ground with a one-bill approach as the budget battle continues.

“It’s not perfect, and I know there’s some differences of opinion,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn said. “But to me, that’s a good place to start.”

“If we’re depending on the House to pass multiple bills, we’re going to be on the knife’s edge each time to see whether they have the votes or not,” Cornyn said. “I don’t know how many times the Speaker can pull a rabbit out of the hat.”

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