Lindsey Graham criticized the budget bill passed by House Republicans: It needs a 'major overhaul'

Lindsey Graham criticized the Budget Reconciliation bill passed by the House of Representatives, which contains much of Donald Trump's agenda. Just hours after Mike Johnson managed to unite House Republicans to pass the legislation, the South Carolina senator said it needs a "major overhaul" before reaching the Senate.

When it comes to deciding how to advance Trump's agenda through Congress, GOP lawmakers are split into two groups: those who prefer to lump all of the president's priorities into one big bill (the House) and those who are betting on two separate pieces of legislation (the Senate). At the time of choosing, the president publicly backed the House version, which has already been approved and must now go to the Senate.

In this context, Graham, who, in addition to being the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, was the main author of the proposal to send two separate bills, expressed himself in this context. Indeed, Graham listed some problems with this legislation.

"The tax cuts are not permanent; they don’t use current policy [budget baseline]. It would be a major overhaul," he told reporters Wednesday.

He was joined by Mike Crapo (R-ID), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "We need to put the current policy baseline in, and then we need to decide what, if any, additional tax policies need to be considered," he remarked.

When asked by reporters if he was willing to support the House-passed version, Crapo said "no." “I think everybody knows, now the work starts over here," he added.

What's in the House mega-bill?

The legislation pushed by Johnson passed with 217 yes votes to 215 no votes. Because of the slim Republican majority, compounded by vacant seats that still need to be filled through special elections, the House speaker could afford only one Republican leak, which in this case was Thomas Massie.