The sudden death of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) last week has cast significant doubt over congressional Republicans’ legislative agenda for the coming months, particularly regarding negotiations over a potential third reconciliation bill and its intended provisions.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on the Budget, Graham had been spearheading legislation that would allocate additional funding to the Department of Defense among other priorities. The proposed measure, if advanced as a reconciliation bill, would require only a simple majority to pass, bypassing the Senate filibuster. The current Congress previously enacted two major bills through this process: President Donald Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) and the Secure America Act, which provided funding for border security and immigration enforcement.
With Graham gone, the U.S. House has assumed leadership in advancing the bill. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is actively mobilizing his Republican colleagues around the proposal, and the House Committee on the Budget recently passed a resolution to move the legislation to the floor. The advanced package includes an additional $73 billion for the Department of Defense, $12 billion for farm assistance, and establishes an election-grant program promoting policies from the proposed SAVE America Act.
In the Senate, Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) will succeed Graham as chairman of the Budget Committee. Johnson has publicly endorsed a third reconciliation bill and stated on Monday that he had “already met with Lindsey’s staff” to discuss it. However, Johnson is more conservative than Graham—holding a lifetime Freedom Index score of 72 percent compared to Graham’s 57 percent—and demonstrates greater skepticism about federal spending. He may push for increased budget cuts to counterbalance the supplemental appropriations in the bill, potentially emerging as constitutionalists’ strongest hope for avoiding another OBBB-style fiscal crisis.
The likelihood of the third reconciliation bill passing remains uncertain given the GOP’s narrow congressional majorities. Regardless of the outcome, Graham’s untimely death has already disrupted the legislative process.
