WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are warming up to the idea of including a debt ceiling increase in their big party-line bill to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has told Republican senators that he’s now open to raising the debt limit in a broader spending package, according to a source familiar with his conversations. That’s a shift for Thune in the direction of a budget blueprint adopted by House Republicans, which included a $4 trillion debt limit hike.

The Senate’s separate budget plan, by contrast, avoided the issue, one of several major conflicts between the two measures to provide funding for Trump’s policy priorities. But now, as the Trump administration pushes the chambers to resolve their differences, some Republican senators are changing their tune after initially preferring to address the debt limit question separately.

“I’m warming up to it, as well,” Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., told NBC News about a debt limit increase in the bill.

Young said he wants a fiscal commission or some “actionable plan” to tackle the long-term solvency problems of Medicare and Social Security, saying it’d be “unconscionable” to go through the budget process “and not commit to revolving them.”

Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., said he could “possibly” vote for a debt limit hike in the bill, but he wants spending cuts alongside it.

Thune also told members that he favors a compromise budget resolution with the House that could be voted on during the week of April 7, another significant concession after GOP senators had indicated earlier that the two chambers would pass separate bills and negotiate later.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he’s working on a new budget resolution that he will take straight to the floor without holding a hearing. And Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said the vote in the full Senate may happen as early as next week.

The Trump administration is seeking to resolve the differences between the $340 billion Senate budget blueprint, which tackles immigration, military and energy policy, and the House’s plan, which includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts in addition to addressing those issues.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held a meeting Tuesday with White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and the chairs of the two tax-writing committees, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo.

After the meeting, Thune told reporters that there is “consensus forming around” the idea of adding a debt limit hike to the bill, saying it is “clearly a preferable outcome.”

“It was a very constructive, productive conversation, and kind of honed in on the final issues that we have to decide,” he said.

In a new report released Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the deadline for lawmakers to act on the debt ceiling or risk default on U.S. obligations will likely be in August or September.

“CBO estimates that if the debt limit remains unchanged, the government’s ability to borrow using established ‘extraordinary measures’ will probably be exhausted in August or September 2025,” the report said, while cautioning that the “X date” could be as early as May or June, depending on tax collections and outlays.

The official deadline will be set by the Treasury Department.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he’s willing to accept the House’s $4 trillion hike in the bill but wants spending cuts attached to it. And he said a deadline could help pressure Congress to act.

“We don’t do things without a deadline,” he said.

If Republican congressional leaders attempted to pass a debt ceiling increase in a separate bill, they would need Democratic support to cross the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. By attempting to include it in the so-called “reconciliation” bill, they could pass it with simple majorities in the GOP-led House and Senate.

But raising the debt ceiling with only Republican votes is easier said than done — particularly with a narrow House majority, which includes scores of lawmakers who have never voted to raise the borrowing limit. Conservative hardliners say they’re open to it — if Congress can cut spending to the tune of trillions of dollars.

That is also proving to be a challenge. The House budget resolution requires the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut spending by $880 billion, but CBO has said it’s impossible to achieve that target without cutting Medicare or Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars. And some Republicans in swing districts have expressed reluctance about slashing Medicaid.

After the Tuesday meeting, Crapo declined to say whether they discussed what to do about Medicare or Medicaid, telling reporters: “I don’t talk about what goes on in my meetings.”

In addition, there’s the question of how to make Trump’s expiring tax cuts permanent, which would cost an estimated $4.6 trillion over a decade. Senate budget rules require Congress to pay for the tax cuts in order to make them permanent, but Republicans have no hope of finding savings at that level. So instead, they’re eying a new accounting technique to set the cost of extending those tax breaks at $0, a move that Democrats insist they will fight.

But it’s a tricky situation for Republicans, because they won’t know if that new accounting method will be allowed until they vote to adopt a new budget that uses it. The Senate parliamentarian, the in-house referee who settles disputes within the budget process, will have to rule on it.

“Well, it ain’t gonna happen until you have a bill,” Graham said. “She can’t rule on a hypothetical case, right? So we’re gonna have to get the bill moving, the resolution, and then she’ll tell us.”

Bessent said solidifying Trump’s 2017 tax cuts is a priority.

“The American people gave this Administration a clear mandate to restore our nation’s prosperity—lower taxes, bigger paychecks, and a stronger economy,” Bessent said. “I am dedicated to working with Congress in making permanent President Trump’s historic tax cuts and reviving the American dream. Today’s productive meeting gives me confidence that a swift timeframe is achievable.”