WASHINGTON — A Republican U.S. senator said he is holding up his party’s budget proposal in Congress because a provision intended to cut spending isn’t strong enough.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee told reporters Tuesday he was withholding support for releasing the unified House-Senate budget plan. The proposal needed to be unveiled Tuesday to meet House leaders’ goal of adopting it Thursday.

Sen. Bob Corker says a Republican budget plan relies on gimmicks.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. His withdrawal comes just a day after he joined Donald Trump at a rally in North Carolina. .J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press

Republican Presidential candidate,and Senate Foreign Relations Committee member, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, left, passes Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 14, 2015, during the committee'smeeting to debate and vote on the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015. Republican and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reached a compromise Tuesday on a bill that would give Congress a say on an emerging deal to curb Iran's nuclear program. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Corker told reporters he wants the budget to “rid itself of a lot of the gimmicks that have been used in the past to actually spend a lot more money than people think we are spending.”

The nonbinding budget proposal is intended to reach balance in nine years. It sets out the Republican Party’s priorities by calling for more than $5 trillion in spending cuts and no net tax increases. It raises defense spending in 2016 by boosting a war funds account far above President Obama’s request.

The proposal also would allow Republicans to bypass Democrats and send Obama legislation to revise, though not repeal, his landmark health care law. The administration has said the 2010 Affordable Care Act has extended coverage to 16.4 million previously uninsured Americans.

Both chambers adopted their own versions of a budget plan last month and conferees have been working out the differences.

At Corker’s urging, the Senate version barred appropriators from increasing discretionary spending by using money saved from mandatory spending. Eliminating the practice would cut discretionary spending by about $190 billion over a decade.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers has been fighting to remove that provision from the final budget. The Kentucky Republican said in an interview that it would make his job of passing annual spending bills too difficult.

The measure is eligible for House and Senate floor action two days after release.

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