With a lengthy recess likely soon to begin, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Aug. 7 that the Senate will not vote until September to advance a closely watched party-line budget bill.
The chairman told reporters that “we need more” than was included in the House version of the bill, adding that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth “made a very convincing case” for passing $350 billion in military spending via budget reconciliation.
Budget reconciliation would enable Senate Republicans to bypass the filibuster.
Johnson introduced the Senate’s budget resolution framework earlier in the day.
A vote ahead of the break would start the contested process of passing a final package, one on which House and Senate Republicans would ultimately have to agree.
Ahead of the announcement from Johnson and his colleagues, questions mounted about whether Republican leadership could command enough votes to start moving on the budget package known as “Reconciliation 3.0.”
The decision from Senate GOP members came after a two-hour conference meeting involving Sens. Johnson, Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).
(L–R) Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) walk towards Senate Chambers in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Aug. 7, 2026. Finn Gomez/Getty Images
Johnson said they spoke to President Donald Trump about postponing the vote, and the president supported the decision. The senator noted that there were concerns about whether they could pass the budget resolution ahead of the August recess.
“We had a discussion with the president—he agrees: ‘Don’t take the vote tonight, and just work diligently through August and September to do a better reconciliation vote’,” Johnson said of Trump’s response.
“This was a Senate decision,” he said.
