Lindsey Graham’s death opens up an increasingly powerful job in the Senate

WASHINGTON – Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sudden death over the weekend sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill, leaving lawmakers reeling from the unexpected death of their longtime colleague in the wee hours of the morning.

It also opened a significant vacancy on a key Senate committee that has increasingly become the architect of some of the most important legislation affecting Americans’ lives.

The South Carolina Republican was the powerful chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. The panel may seem like another dicey corner of Congress, but it’s much more than that.

It’s also here President Donald Trump The biggest legislative gains of the second term emerged. That’s because budget bills only need a simple majority to pass, unlike other bills that require 60 votes in the Senate.

Republicans in Congress have become increasingly accustomed to drafting major party-driven bills through the all-important budget committee at Trump’s behest. They used this process, known as “reconciliation,” to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from federal spending and send $70 billion to ICE and Border Patrol.

Just a few days ago, the president once again directed them to direct the Senate and House budget committees to attempt to pass a $350 billion cash aid to the Pentagon in the coming months; All of this is on top of a long-term effort to pass a voting restrictions bill.

Whoever replaces Graham on the budget committee will play a key role in delivering on GOP priorities or trying to do so.

Other long-serving Republican senators on the panel include Mike Crapo of Idaho and Chuck Grassley of Iowa. However, both are currently chairs of other important committees. There’s also Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas. Rounding out the GOP members: Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, John Cornyn of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Rick Scott of Florida.

Graham oversees ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ and ICE funding

Before his death on July 11, Graham helped carry two major successes of GOP politics to the finish line.

The first of these was the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which has since been renamed by Republicans as the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. The massive domestic policy legislation passed a year ago has reshaped the country in profound ways, from cuts to Medicaid and food stamps to a federal student loan overhaul.

Democrats often call this the “Big, Ugly Bill.”

The second bill Graham helped shepherd was the Safe America Act, which provided an additional $70 billion for federal immigration enforcement agencies. The legislation passed both houses of Congress earlier this summer, although Democrats boycotted it, saying they wanted significant reforms to ICE.

On the night Republicans approved the legislation in the Senate, Graham accused Democrats of obstructing the normal bipartisan process for allocating federal money. In his view, this challenge forced the GOP to take extreme measures and go it alone.

“Why are we here? Through the normal appropriations process, Democrats wouldn’t give a dime to Border Patrol or ICE,” he said on the Senate floor. “It didn’t work.”

Zachary Schermele is USA TODAY’s congressional correspondent. You can reach him via email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him at @ZachSchermele on X and @zachschermele.bsky.social on Bluesky.

This article first appeared on USA TODAY: Lindsey Graham’s death opens door to increasingly powerful Senate job