Hey, Senate GOP, let’s get moving — pass more big, beautiful bills before it’s too late

The One Big Beautiful Bill stands alone as the 119th Congress’ most extraordinary piece of legislation — but it doesn’t have to.

Under the Senate’s rules, congressional Republicans can use the reconciliation process to pass two more big, beautiful bills with a simple majority vote.

And we would be fools to let this opportunity pass us by.

U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol on the third day of a partial government shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 3, 2025. REUTERS

Here’s the reality: Most of my Democratic colleagues would rather bathe with their toasters than support any part of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

If Trump endorsed breathing to live, they’d hold their breath.

They can’t stand the president, and that’s their right — but this hyper-partisanship makes it nearly impossible to gather the 60 votes needed in the Senate to pass most legislation.

With the 1974 Budget Control Act’s reconciliation process, however, the Senate under certain circumstances can pass major legislation with just 51 votes.

That’s how we were able to issue the largest tax cut in American history, secure the border, expand school choice, address Medicaid fraud, eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security, and end federal payments for abortions, sex-change operations and outrageous climate scams in one reconciliation bill — all without a single Democratic vote.

The One Big Beautiful Bill delivered real results for the American people, and it immediately eased the biggest challenges Americans were facing at the beginning of the year.

Today, our border is secure, and the extended tax cuts will save Americans from $4 trillion in new taxes.

Open borders and looming tax hikes no longer concern us.

But when moms and dads lie down to sleep tonight and can’t, it’s because they’re worried about the cost of groceries.

And rent. And Christmas presents. And health care. And flood insurance.

The president has done a tremendous job of driving down inflation from 9% under President Joe Biden to 3% today, but Americans are still struggling to stay afloat.

Businesses could use a hand, too: Biden saddled the American economy with thousands of new regulations.

It costs our companies more than $2 trillion per year to comply with all of them, and most of that expense is passed on to consumers through higher prices.

The Trump administration has been chopping away at the bureaucratic red tape, but Congress could expedite the process with a reconciliation blowtorch, getting government off the backs of American businesses through regulatory reform.

Senate Republicans are sitting on two reconciliation get-out-of-jail-free cards that could let us address the cost of living, cut regulations, reform our health-care system and improve our immigration laws — with or without Democratic votes.

Yet in the five months since the Big Beautiful Bill became law, congressional Republicans have failed to develop any strategy for our next reconciliation package.

I understand why we couldn’t immediately move to another reconciliation package earlier this year.

My Democratic colleagues launched a historic obstruction campaign against President Trump’s nominees, forcing us to hold more votes than any Senate in recent history to approve them.

Then Senate Democrats wasted a full month by shutting down the government so Sen. Chuck Schumer could try to win over the loon wing of his party.

It took time to navigate these obstructions, but we managed to pass a rule change speeding the confirmation of lower-level nominees, and we’ve passed several appropriations bills to keep the government open into next year.

These changes ensure that we’ll have a functioning government — but to address the issues that keep moms and dads up at night, we need to pass new legislation.

Yet some of my Republican colleagues continue to hold out hope for a bipartisan path forward.

I would love for my Democratic colleagues to work with us to address these pressing problems, but you don’t need to be Einstein’s cousin to know that they’re not going to have a bipartisanship epiphany anytime soon.

There’s no Christmas miracle on the horizon that will give us 60 votes on any major reforms.  

The Senate Budget Committee, which is where the reconciliation process must begin, has been engaged in the very early stages of discussion to identify policy priorities we might move forward along that path — but so far, our caucus has failed to coalesce behind any real strategy.

In fact, there seems to be some debate as to whether we can agree on enough to attempt another reconciliation package at all.   

It would be legislative malpractice to squander these two remaining reconciliation bills.

The midterm clock is ticking, and the Republican majority in the House has never been more fragile.

To my Senate colleagues: Please, with sugar on top, do not waste this opportunity.

John Kennedy represents Louisiana in the US Senate.