Thune open to passing party-line $350 billion military bill before Democrats take power

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Thursday he was “interested” in President Donald Trump’s renewed push for a $350 billion military funding bill using only Republican votes but stopped short of committing to its passage before Democrats take control of Congress in January.The legislation would mark the third so-called reconciliation bill of Trump’s second term that skirts the 60-vote filibuster, but Republicans face internal disagreements over its size and scope as the administration lobbies for the supplemental Pentagon spending.“I’m interested in doing something that funds the military because the Democrats clearly are not, and we’ve got serious national security needs that need to be met,” Thune told reporters as he departed the Capitol. “We’ll see. We haven’t — we are continuing to work it.” Earlier that day, Trump called for Senate GOP leadership to “IMMEDIATELY” refocus on the $350 billion proposal in a Truth Social post and to “give our brave Warriors the DECISIVE ADVANTAGE they deserve.“The Radical Democrat Majority in the next Congress has already made it clear that their Number One Agenda is to BLOCK and RESIST this historic investment in our National Security,” Trump wrote.“The time is NOW,” he said.Republicans have struggled to pass extra military funding outside of the normal annual appropriations process, including a House-passed budget blueprint for Iran war funding that has languished in the Senate for months. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is lobbying Congress for $1.5 trillion in overall defense funding for fiscal 2027, $350 billion of which is the reconciliation push. But narrow majorities and outstanding proposals leave GOP leaders on both sides of the Capitol little time to get their members in line.Rank-and-file Senate Republicans expressed greater support for the $350 billion figure, which would fund items such as munitions production, Golden Dome missile defense, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence.“I think the president’s tweet completely changed the dynamic on reconciliation,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) said. “Or if Democrats want to join us in the defense supplemental bill, which is what this is, we can do it that way as well.”However, key centrists remained skeptical. And Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a fiscal hawk, remained opposed to another such party-line spending bill.Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-ME), who lost her reelection, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) were noncommittal.“I’m looking at what the specifics are,” Collins told the Washington Examiner. “I obviously would prefer to do appropriations bills for everything.”HEGSETH’S $1.5 TRILLION BUDGET ON LIFE SUPPORT AFTER ‘BLUENAMI’ MIDTERM RESULTSMurkowski noted GOP senators have discussed privately in recent days the prospects of another reconciliation bill but had yet to reach consensus. She declined to stake out a position.Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the incoming House GOP leader, and Thune discussed reconciliation during their first meeting Wednesday after winning their respective leadership races for the next Congress, according to Jordan.