Senate Republicans said this week that a House-passed budget reconciliation bill does not contain enough defense-related funding and that they want to significantly increase it, setting up a clash between GOP lawmakers in the two chambers.

The bill passed by House Republicans includes $73 billion in defense-related funding, designed to largely cover the administration’s $87.6 billion supplemental funding request for the Iran war. But the administration has said it needs an additional $350 billion, separate from the Iran war funding, to help bring to fruition the $1.5 trillion defense budget it envisions for 2027.

The reconciliation bill is aimed at advancing GOP spending priorities without Democratic support by avoiding the Senate filibuster.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Jewish Insider, “I’d rather it be much bigger.”

Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) told JI he doesn’t think the House-passed defense funding is sufficient.

“I think that number really needs to be plussed up,” Budd said. “It’s such a far gap from what we see with the supplemental request, which is legitimate. There’s a lot baked into the supplemental that’s necessary. We can get that in the form of reconciliation. It has a long way to go.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters this week that that view is shared by other Senate Republicans. He said he would prefer to double the reconciliation funding, and that increasing the defense funding level might be necessary to get the 50 Republican votes needed.

“Frankly, if we’re gonna do this and what it’s gonna take to get this done, you kind of want to make it worthwhile, and I think the president asked for $350 billion … We’re at 67,” Thune said on Monday.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) took a somewhat different view than some of his colleagues, telling JI that the Senate will have to follow the House’s lead, even if he personally wants more funding.

“I think it ought to be higher, but we’ve got to work with the House and what they’re willing to do,” Scott said. “That’s the number the House was willing to do.”

Some House conservatives have worried about boosting defense spending without other budget cuts to offset it.