Sen. Marsha Blackburn told Newsmax that Senate Republicans aim to further trim the wide-ranging spending package that passed the House earlier this month, with the aim of reducing the federal budget to around $6.5 trillion.
The Tennessee Republican told Newsmax's "Wake Up America" on Friday, "What we are going to do is take the House version of the reconciliation bill ... through the Byrd Rule process, that's called the birdbath, and then it will be to us when we return on Monday."
The senator said, "I'm looking forward to that. The House made $1.5 trillion in cuts, the Senate goal is to do $2 trillion in cuts. We would like to hit that number so that we're at a $6.5 trillion budget, down from the House number, and then we're able to begin pushing toward President Trump's goal of having a balanced budget."
Blackburn said, "We'd love to do that next year, but the Senate is going to be more aggressive in the savings for taxpayers and the reductions in spending than you have seen."
She noted that "the rescission bill has to come to us from the White House and ... we've been waiting for that for about six weeks. We're looking forward to it."
Blackburn also said that once they have the bill from the White House, senators can "codify" the 2017 tax cuts "into federal law."
She said, "We would like to be doing a rescission bill about once every month or six weeks and get this spending out of there."
Blackburn added that GOP senators are "really grateful for [the Department of Government Efficiency], the process, and how they have helped to amplify what we can do with removing waste, fraud, and abuse from the federal budget."
Finally, the senator addressed controversy concerning Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell, saying that she has written a letter to the Department of Justice asking them to investigate O'Connell over his actions concerning Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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