The Senate’s failure to approve repeal-and-replace legislation clearly irked President Donald Trump, who spent much of the summer griping publicly about the chamber’s Republican leadership. | Oliver Douliery/Getty Images Trump: Senate budget vote 'first step towards massive tax cuts'

President Donald Trump said Thursday morning that the Senate’s scheduled vote on budget legislation is a “first step towards massive tax cuts,” but cautioned that a successful floor vote is not necessarily assured.

“Republicans are going for the big Budget approval today, first step toward massive tax cuts. I think we have the votes, but who knows?” Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday. He did not immediately clarify if he was casting doubt on the budget legislation that will come before the Senate Thursday or on his larger policy goal of cutting taxes and pushing through a major rewrite of the U.S. tax code.


Passing budget legislation is a key first step for Republicans that will allow them to seek to approve tax reform legislation via a process call reconciliation, allowing them to approve the bill with a simple majority as opposed to the Senate’s typical 60-vote threshold. But even that lower bar has proven difficult for the GOP to hurdle thus far into the Trump administration, with Republicans unable to muster 50 votes in their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The Senate’s failure to approve repeal-and-replace legislation clearly irked Trump, who spent much of the summer griping publicly about the chamber’s Republican leadership. The two sides have lately warmed to one another somewhat amid a fresh push to dramatically alter the nation’s tax laws, a move that, if successful, would give Trump and the GOP their first major legislative victory since the president took office last January.

