President Trump reached an agreement this week with leaders in Congress to suspend the federal debt ceiling and increase spending above levels currently allowed in law. Attention has predictably focused on the deal’s impact on the nation’s fiscal trajectory. But it also signals that the unprecedented decline in amendment activity on the Senate floor is not going to abate anytime soon.

Opposition to the two-year budget accord among conservatives has centered on the fact that it will add to the national debt. They have argued that it does nothing to change the nation’s unsustainable fiscal trajectory. In the House, members of the Freedom Caucus have taken an official position opposing the agreement. According to reports, Republicans Mike Braun of Indiana, Mike Lee of Utah, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, will oppose it in the Senate.