June 24 (UPI) — Complications with the so-called “one big, beautiful” fiscal year 2026 budget bill might keep lawmakers at the Capitol until passing it instead of recessing for Independence Day.
President Donald Trump had announced a July 4th deadline for the budget bill, but Congress is slated for a week-long recess next week, which caused Trump to call on senators to stay at the capital until passing the budget bill.
“To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, [but] don’t go home,” Trump said Tuesday morning in a Truth Social post, as reported by Roll Call.
“Get the deal done this week,” Trump said. “Work with the House so they can pass it immediately. No one goes on vacation until it’s done.”
Trump posted his comments before boarding Air Force One for a trip to The Hague to attend the 2025 NATO Summit.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., conducted a closed-door meeting with GOP House members on Tuesday morning during which he suggested the Senate might pass the reconciliation budget bill later this week, Roll Call reported.
He told GOP members to keep their calendars flexible to pass the reconciliation bill as soon as possible.
The Senate is working on the reconciliation budget bill that would negate a potential filibuster and enable its passage.
“If the Senate does its work on the timeline we expect, we will do our work, as well,” Johnson said. “I think everyone’s ready for that.”
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined provisions in the bill regarding offshore oil and gas leases violate Senate rules and must be changed, The Hill reported.
Declaring offshore oil and gas projects as automatically complying with the National Environmental Policy Act usurps and nullifies the review of such projects, according to MacDonough.
She said a proposal allowing successful bidders of such leases to take possession within 90 days of respective lease sales is too soon.
MacDonough also rejected a provision requiring the Interior secretary to allow the construction of a 211-mile road to enable the development of four large and hundreds of small mines in northern Alaska.
Such provisions would require at least 60 votes for successful passage instead of a simple majority, she told the Senate.
MacDonough also nixed the proposed bill’s mandate requiring the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to sell millions of acres of public lands.
The measure would require the federal agencies to sell up to 3.3 million acres of public land, but MacDonough determined that they violate Senate rules and either must be removed from the reconciliation bill or be revised.
“Public lands belong in public hands, for current and future generations alike,” Wilderness Society President Tracy Stone-Manning said in a prepared statement on Tuesday, The Denver Post reported.
“We trust the next politician who wants to sell off public lands will remember that people of all stripes will stand against that idea,” Stone-Manning added. “Our public lands are not for sale.”
MacDonough is reviewing other parts of the budget bill, which further could complicate its potential passage.
