Discussion Thread: US Senate Debates and Considers the Republican Budget Resolution on April 4th, 2025

[u/PoliticsModeratorBot]

News and Analysis

• CBS: Senate Republicans unveil budget resolution key to unlocking Trump agenda (Published two days ago)

• NBC: Senate Republicans vote to advance a massive budget blueprint for Trump's agenda | The Senate voted 52-48 to begin debate on a multitrillion-dollar plan that would cut taxes, boost spending for immigration enforcement and the military and raise the debt limit. (Published yesterday)

• NBC: GOP concerns about tax cut strategy and Medicaid loom over Senate budget

• AP: Republicans moving ahead with Trump’s ‘big’ bill of tax breaks and spending cuts amid tariff uproar

• ABC: Video: Senate Republicans set to push Trump agenda forward with vote-a-rama

• Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: Senate Budget Could Enable Unprecedented Deficit Increase

Live Updates

Relevant text-based, live update pages are being maintained by the following outlets: NBC, and Politico (soft paywall).

Where to Watch

• PBS NewsHour via YouTube: Senate convenes as Republicans push for Trump’s budget bill of tax and spending cuts

• C-SPAN: U.S. Senate, 2025-04-04 | The Senate is considering a revised version of the 2025 House Republicans' budget resolution.

[u/JadedIT_Tech]

The good news: No damage of this kind of permanent.

The bad news: It's going to take a really fucking long time to fix. And the more bullshit he pulls, the longer it's going to take.

[u/OnDrugsTonight → u/JadedIT_Tech]

I'd say the re-establishment of economic ties and removal of tariffs could happen pretty much instantaneously. Hell, nobody wanted this trade war in the first place, so we're all standing by for the US to snap out of it.

Other damages may be a lot harder to repair. America's loss of soft power through the abolishment of USAID means that by 2028 other players (mainly China) will have filled the vacuum left behind by America's withdrawal from the world stage, and countries around the globe will have entered into comfortable long term economic partnerships with China that they will be reluctant (or unable) to abandon.

Same with NATO. While it'd be good to temporarily have some sanity back in the White House, we'd be crazy to trust America again in the same way we did before. "Fool me once" etc. Knowing that every four years it'll be a roll of a dice whether or not we're still allies doesn't lend itself well to making strategic military decisions that are measured in decades. So the European side of NATO will probably be a lot more inward looking than it was before.

All of this obviously hinges on the rather optimistic assumption that you guys will still have meaningful, democratic elections in 2028.

[u/NeverForgetChainRule → u/OnDrugsTonight]

Regarding international relations, he probably has done damage that isnt reparable in the near future (near future being, say a dem wins in 2028 and for their whole first term). I'm sure theyll remove any tarrifs trump hasnt himself by then, and other nations likely will remove retalitory ones, and im sure the US will begin working with other nations again in places Trump is refusing, but I'd expect (and honestly hope) that the rest of the world will treat the US a bit differently with how bad one of our parties is in regards to international relations. At any point in 4 years, all of it can be clicked back on.

[u/chowderbags → u/NeverForgetChainRule]

Even if tariffs are removed, companies are going to be reluctant to include the US in their supply chains. Why take the risk if there's a 50-50 shot that America elects another lunatic and trade gets fucked again? The only way someone would bother is if the America side puts in a steep discount to make it worth the risk, which means the American economy will suffer long after the tariffs are gone.

[u/cartwheel_123 → u/chowderbags]

America is the targarayean dynasty. It's a coin flip if the president will be insane.