Senate Republicans are unlikely to take up a third budget reconciliation bill to advance more of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The development is sure to be unwelcome news for their counterparts in the House, who have advocated a third bill.

The ambitious push from House Republicans for another party-line package in Trump’s second term, and before they potentially lose power in the midterm elections, is not considered by senators to be a realistic feat, even as Congress on Tuesday was on the cusp of delivering its second in the form of $70 billion in immigration enforcement funding.

“We’re keeping the option open, for sure. But a lot of that’s going to depend again on what the traffic will bear,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told the Washington Examiner. “Can they get something out of the House, and can we get 51 for anything in the Senate, or 50 these days, which was kind of evident last week that’s going to be hard.”

Other key Senate Republicans were more openly skeptical, all but shooting down the notion from House GOP lawmakers that they could use the filibuster-skirting process to advance their broader federal spending priorities rather than the annual appropriations process that requires Democratic buy-in.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-ME), up for reelection in a battleground race, chastised Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink during a budget hearing on Tuesday over using a third reconciliation for defense-related spending. She said the administration’s funding request “is taking a terrible risk and creates instability when you’re counting on a third reconciliation bill for the bulk of the money rather than doing base funding through the federal appropriations bills.”

“I think it’s safe to conclude there will not be another reconciliation bill,” chimed in Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the former longtime GOP leader who, at times, has bucked Trump on his way to retirement. “So, it’s really not an option.”

“I agree with that assessment,” Collins added.

The GOP’s first reconciliation in Trump’s second term, passed last summer, largely focused on permanently extending the president’s tax cuts from his first term. This go-around, the legislation focuses on immigration funding. But like last year, the latest bill was a grueling process for Republicans that exposed divisions over hot-button political issues, including the administration’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” and White House security funding for Trump’s East Wing ballroom construction.

Prior to the Senate’s passage of the second bill last week, House Speaker Mike Jonson (R-LA) previewed a third bill “that comes out in the coming weeks, and you will see further attention to it paid there.” The House was set to pass the second bill as early as Tuesday and send it to Trump’s desk for his signature.

Thune’s reservations over quickly uniting Republicans for yet another package ahead of the midterm elections come in the wake of the latest arduous undertaking. Unlike the House’s reconciliation process, the Senate is a more delicate balancing act between a marathon voting session where Democrats try to exploit defections and the chamber’s parliamentarian, who acts as a referee for which policies may be excluded.

And with a little more than one month of legislative working days before the 2026 elections, Republicans would have to move at a breakneck pace to craft, debate, and pass a measure that could garner near-total GOP unity.

“The White House has dialed in on this 100%,” Johnson added in his remarks last week, suggesting their proposal will address “fraud, waste, and abuse in government.”

“We’re working alongside and in tandem with the White House, the Executive Branch, to make sure we’re tracking down on this,” he added.

Hailey Bullis contributed to this report.