Republicans consider using reconciliation again after Trump's biggest legislative win

Lawmakers leave DC without fixing climbing healthcare costs Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports on the latest in the fight over the healthcare problem on 'Special Report.' As the year closes, Republicans are looking to the past for another dance with a partisan exercise that tested the party’s unity and delivered President Donald Trump his crowning legislative achievement of the year. Budget reconciliation is how congressional Republicans rammed through Trump’s "big, beautiful bill," earlier this year. But it’s a time-consuming, labor-intensive process that laid bare intra-party divisions and nearly exploded before liftoff. Still, some Republicans want to take another stab at reconciliation, which allows a party in power to advance legislation with just a simple majority in the Senate as long as it adheres to strict, budgetary parameters. SENATE QUIETLY WORKS ON BIPARTISAN OBAMACARE FIX AS HEALTHCARE CLIFF NEARS Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital of reconciliation: "It’s always hard, but it's an option, and one that we're not ruling in or ruling out." (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) "We can do two more reconciliation bills without a single Democratic vote," Sen. John Kennedy , R-La., told Fox News Digital. "Doesn't mean we wouldn't welcome Democratic votes, but we can do them without a single Democratic vote." Turning once again to reconciliation would help Senate Republicans , in particular, address one of Trump’s desires to kill the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the upper chamber without changing the precedent that Democrats, for years, have threatened to do. But they need a plan, first. That would come from Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham , R-S.C., the de facto maestro of the reconciliation process. His committee was responsible for drafting the budget resolution that unlocked the process in the upper chamber earlier this year, and he is reportedly eying drafting another resolution in the new year. SEN MURPHY WARNS 'PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE' AS CONGRESS PUNTS ON EXPIRING OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, June 20, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) "It would be political malpractice not to do another reconciliation," Graham told Semafor . But many Republicans acknowledged just how difficult reconciliation is, especially after the latest exercise that dominated much of Congress’ attention for the first half of the year. Senate Majority Leader John Thune , R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that "it’s always hard, but it's an option, and one that we're not ruling in or ruling out." "I would say you have to have a reason to do it, you know," Thune said. "I mean, you don't just do reconciliation for the heck of it. You got to have a, you know, a specific purpose. And so we'll see. I mean, that purpose may, you know, may start getting some traction." TRUMP'S PUSH TO 'KNOCK OUT' FILIBUSTER GAINS NEW GOP TRACTION AS FUNDING DEADLINE NEARS President Donald Trump during a Mexican Border Defense medal presentation in the Oval Office of...

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