Senate Republicans Call for Improved Communication With House GOP on Funding

Senate Republicans said communication with House Republicans must improve as they prepare to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol operations for the next three and a half years through budget reconciliation. The process will require near-perfect unanimity in both chambers because Democrats will be excluded.

Senate Republicans have grown frustrated with the pace of legislation in recent months and pointed to dysfunction and miscommunications that marked the longest government shutdown on record.

"I think we all need to get in a room and figure out what's our plan," one senator told Fox News Digital. "And how are we going to get things done for the American people?

That decision extended the shutdown for nearly a month and led to the decision to use budget reconciliation for future funding. The approach has created frustration at a time when leadership and President Donald Trump have called for unity. Both the House speaker and the Senate majority leader hold thin majorities, a factor Senate Republicans said they recognize when assessing the House position.

"I mean, I think we understand the challenges that Mike has over there. He's not king. He's the speaker of the House," one senator told Fox News Digital.

One senator said senators should take ownership and work toward complete synchronicity with the House on legislation. "We've got to be able to make sure we're communicating better and working through the issues," another senator told Fox News Digital. "The House isn’t our enemy.

We gotta be able to resolve all the issues on a piece of legislation. We have differences of opinion. " House Republicans had said they were blindsided by a Senate deal earlier this year on Department of Homeland Security funding that carved out resources for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.

Since Republicans took control of both chambers last year, communication on major legislative pushes had often been handled by the Homeland Security secretary, a former GOP senator. When asked if a similar dedicated liaison was needed, one senator said the main points of communication now fall to the Senate majority leader and House speaker.

The Senate majority leader has avoided public criticism of House Republicans and noted that the different structures of the chambers can create difficulties.

"We obviously have a 60-vote threshold," the Senate majority leader said. "We need Democrats. " One senator argued that despite the coordination issues, Republican unity had prevented what would have been the largest tax hike in decades if Democrats had controlled both chambers.

" — Sen. John Barrasso (Fox News) Senate Republicans are now focused on advancing the reconciliation package while addressing the coordination concerns that have marked the early months of unified Republican control of Congress.