The Senate postponed until after the one-week Memorial Day recess the "vote-a-rama" process of limitless amendment votes and a final vote on the Reconciliation 2.0 bill funding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agencies, over internal Republican disagreements on issues including security enhancements for President Trump's proposed White House ballroom and the newly announced $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund. The Republicans-only reconciliation bill is being pursued because Democrats wanted changes for the ICE and CBP agencies that Republicans wouldn't agree to in the regular appropriations process, leading them to use reconciliation to fund the agencies. The reconciliation process is usually reserved for broader policy packages but has been used for spending in the past (to provide additional IRS funding, for example). President Trump had set a June 1 deadline for getting the ICE/CBP bill to his desk, a deadline Republicans will not be able to meet.

Semafor reported May 21 that part of the calculus of forestalling the process is that "Senate Democrats were preparing amendments targeting the Justice Department's 'anti-weaponization' fund, and it's not clear that Republican leaders can defeat those without their own compromise approach to constraining" the fund. "We can't help the president with a budget reconciliation package with this hanging over us," said Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND). The setback on the reconciliation bill came only days after another priority for the President, $1 billion in security enhancements for the new White House ballroom, was ruled as being in violation of reconciliation rules by the Senate Parliamentarian.

Taking up spending matters represents an evolution of the reconciliation process that can be used when one party controls the House, Senate, and Presidency. In recent times, reconciliation was used to enact a straightforward tax cut package in 2001, health care reform by Democrats in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, tax reform by Republicans in the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017, COVID relief and stimulus by Democrats in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021, clean energy subsidies by Democrats in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, then, finally, an extension of the 2017 tax cuts and reforms by Republicans in the 2025 "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA/OB3). "Senate Republicans made another substantive revision [of the reconciliation process] last year by voting to ignore the $3.8 trillion cost of extending Mr. Trump's 2017 tax cuts and declaring that doing so did not add to the deficit — a major deviation from precedent," the New York Times said May 21. "That change … cleared the way for permanently extending the tax cuts without having to offset the cost, as would otherwise have been required under the previous interpretation of the rules."

Ways and Means — During the Wednesday, May 20 Ways and Means Tax Subcommittee hearing, "Your Paycheck, Returned: How the Working Families Tax Cuts Delivered for Americans," Republicans celebrated the benefits of the OBBBA, while Democrats criticized the new law for its health care spending cuts and tax benefits that, they said, are skewed toward the wealthy. In an opening statement, Chairman Mike Kelly (R-PA) said, "Families across the country are seeing the Working Families Tax Cuts where it matters most — in their paychecks and refunds. The latest filing season data proves these policies are reaching tens of millions of families and workers as intended."

Ranking Member Mike Thompson (D-CA) said, "Families are paying more for groceries, more for rent, more for health care, more for childcare, and more for basic necessities. At the same time, Republicans cut $1 trillion in health care funding that will force rural hospitals to close, put seniors out of nursing homes, and kick working families off their health care." Other Democrats were similarly critical. "Today's hearing is supposed to be about whether the Republicans' big ugly bill actually delivered for American families," said Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA). "And the evidence makes one thing unmistakably clear. The bill was never designed to help working families, it was meant to help the wealthy and the well-connected."

The Ways and Means Committee approved the following measures on Thursday, May 21:

• H.R. 3164, the Ensuring Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act, by voice vote
• H.R. 8163, the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2026, 44-0
• H.R. 8875, the Improving Home Dialysis Act of 2026, 28-13
• H.R. 8883, the Protecting Seniors and Stopping Fraudsters Act, 27-16
• H.R. 8871, the DME Scammer Prevention Act of 2026, 25-19
• H.R. 8884, the Removing Barriers to Work for Disabled Americans Act, 27-16
• H.R. 8873, the Recover COVID Unemployment Fraud in Banks Act, 41-0
• H.R. 8872, the Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in TANF Act, 23-19
• Views and Estimates Letter to the Committee on the Budget, 23-19

Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) said the bills addressed the goals of expanding access to health care, particularly for those in rural and underserved areas, and reducing waste, fraud and abuse in programs under the Committee's jurisdiction. The policies "complement President Trump's new anti-fraud task force by helping recover stolen taxpayer dollars and implement tough new guardrails to stop future fraudsters," he said.

Bill introductions — On May 20, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) introduced The Taxing Buybacks from Big Oil Windfalls Act (S. 4588), to increase the excise tax on stock buybacks of large oil and gas companies from 1% to 25%.

Also on May 20, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced (S. 4584) to expand the New Markets Tax Credit, which was made permanent in the OBBBA.

On May 21, Ways and Means Committee members Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), and Darin LaHood (R-IL) introduced the Rental Housing Investment Act (H.R. 8996), to allow builders to immediately deduct up to $150,000 per unit in construction costs, rather than depreciating the costs over 27.5 years, and provide an enhanced deduction of up to $250,000 per unit for projects that include income-restricted units reserved for working families. The Senate version of the bill (S. 4080) was introduced by Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) in March.

Global tax — An EY Tax Alert, "OECD releases common understanding on GIR central filing and updates to Administrative Guidance under Pillar Two," is available here.

With Congress scheduled to be out of session next week, What to Expect in Washington won't be published, though other WCEY Alerts will be issued as events warrant.