Senate Republicans voted on Thursday (March 3) to start working on a blueprint of US President Donald Trump's “big, beautiful” agenda package on tax cuts, border security, energy production and more. 

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The blueprint - known as a budget resolution - sheds light on a possible final agenda package. Here's how it looks: 

  • $150 billion in additional defense spending over a 10-year period
  • $175 billion in additional border security funding over a 10-year period
  • $21 billion for environmental and transportation committees to identify over a 10-year period
  • The ability to permanently extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by tampering with the baseline ($3.8 trillion, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates)
  • $1.5 trillion for Trump’s miscellaneous tax objectives, such as no taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security, as well as an increase in the state and local tax deduction (SALT).

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As per the blueprint, around $350 billion will be allocated to border security ($175 billion each to the Senate Homeland Security Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee). But, a Senate spokesperson told The New York Post that the prime aim of allocating the amount for border security is to give lawmakers “flexibility.” The “target number is $175 billion total” for the border. 

Although, the overall goal of new spending over the next decade between defense, the border and other items is around $346 billion, the Senate blueprint allows for almost $500 billion in new spending. 

But Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) would get the power to tamper with the baseline used to measure the bill’s impact on the deficit, The Post reported. 

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Graham gets permission from the Senate blueprint to declare that the Trump 2017 tax cuts are the baseline, despite many of those provisions expiring at the end of the year. 

Senate framework vs White House framework 

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If compared with the White House's version, the Senate framework stages for a significantly larger increase to the deficit. The Senate's version prioritises defence spending over border security.  

The White House did not lay down a clear path to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but the Senate version did. 

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(With inputs from agencies)