Lindsey Graham's death opens up an increasingly powerful job in the Senate
WASHINGTON – The sudden death over the weekend of Sen. Lindsey Graham sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill, leaving lawmakers reeling in the early morning hours from the unexpected passing of their longtime colleague.
It also opened up, at least temporarily, an important vacancy atop a key Senate committee – one that's increasingly an architect of some of the most consequential legislation affecting Americans' lives.
The South Carolina Republican was the powerful chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. The panel may sound like just another wonky corner of Congress, but it's much more than that.
It's also the place where President Donald Trump's biggest second-term legislative wins have originated. That's because budget bills only need a simple majority to survive, unlike other legislation in the Senate that requires 60 votes.
Congressional Republicans, on Trump's orders, have become more and more accustomed to muscling big, party-line bills through the all-important budget committee. They've used that process, known as "reconciliation," to slash hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending and send $70 billion to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
Just days ago, the president again directed them to use the Senate and House budget committees to attempt to pass a $350 billion Pentagon cash infusion in the coming months – all of that on top of a long-shot effort to pass a voting restrictions bill.
Whoever replaces Graham leading the budget committee will play a key role in delivering on those GOP priorities – or trying to.
Among the other long-serving Republican senators on the panel are Mike Crapo of Idaho and Chuck Grassley of Iowa. However, both are already chairmen of other important committees. With their plates full, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, is expected to take over.
"Senator Johnson is prepared to serve as budget chair when announced," Grace Carnathan, a spokeswoman for Johnson, said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Rounding out the GOP senators on the committee are John Cornyn of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Rick Scott of Florida.
Graham steered 'Big, Beautiful Bill' and ICE funding
Before his July 11 death, Graham helped push two major GOP policy accomplishments across the finish line.
The first was the so-called "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act," which has since been rebranded by Republicans as the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. The massive piece of domestic policy legislation passed a year ago, reshaping the country in profound ways from Medicaid and food-stamp cuts to a federal student loan overhaul.
Democrats often dub it the "Big, Ugly Bill."
The second bill Graham helped steer was the Secure America Act, which infused federal immigration enforcement agencies with an additional $70 billion. It passed both chambers of Congress earlier this summer, even though Democrats boycotted it, saying they wanted significant reforms to ICE.
On the night Republicans approved the legislation in the Senate, Graham accused Democrats of obstructing the normal bipartisan process for appropriating federal money. In his view, that defiance forced the GOP to take extreme measures and go it alone.
"Why are we here? Through the normal appropriations process, Democrats would not give the Border Patrol or ICE one dime," he said on the Senate floor. "It just didn't work."
This story has been updated to add new information.
Zachary Schermele is the congressional correspondent for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lindsey Graham's death opens up an increasingly powerful job in the Senate
Reporting by Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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This story was originally published July 12, 2026 at 3:11 PM.