Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has not given up on getting as much of the government's omnibus bill through the parliament as possible, even though it looks like failing when it finally reaches the Senate.

"These conversations are still live, they are still ongoing, I'm certainly not prepared to put up the white flag," Senator Cormann told Sky News on Sunday.

The omnibus bill makes cuts to welfare, while funding child care reform and the national disability insurance scheme.

Senate power Nick Xenophon opposes the omnibus bill because he doesn't believe welfare cuts should be used to fund NDIS.

Instead, Senate Xenophon has proposed raising the Medicare levy.

"That is not the position of the government," Senator Cormann said.

Senator Cormann said once the government knows how much of its agenda it's been able to get through the parliament, it will make judgements on what it can best do to keep getting the budget back into balance as soon as possible.