President Trump made an enormous splash with dozens of government actions on his first day in workplace, however now comes the arduous half: getting Republicans in Congress in line to usher an formidable legislative agenda via their slim majorities and clashing factions.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Chief John Thune (R-S.D.) and different GOP congressional leaders met with Trump on the White Home on Tuesday to plan out learn how to just do that. Their sweeping targets embody an extension of Trump’s tax cuts, vitality coverage reforms, border safety measures and funding.
Republicans purpose to cross Trump’s agenda via a particular finances reconciliation course of that can bypass the specter of a Democratic filibuster within the Senate and permit Republicans to cross the expansive agenda alongside celebration strains — however it is going to require near-universal GOP settlement, and getting it is going to be the troublesome half.
Heading into the assembly, there have been nonetheless divisions amongst Republicans about whether or not they need to attempt to pack the entire agenda into one invoice or break it into two items, since reconciliation can solely be used a restricted variety of instances in a 12 months.
However Home Majority Chief Steve Scalise (R-La.) signaled after the assembly that leaders had selected one invoice.
“We’re moving forward with one bill,” Scalise stated.
Johnson was much less direct however stated a plan is in movement.
“We’ve got a plan pretty well-formulated now, and I’m not going to tell all of you all the details of it yet,” Johnson stated. “But the party is working in unison. The leaders in both chambers are working in a bicameral fashion, and the president is all on board.”
Thune had initially advocated for a two-bill observe to attempt to ship border wins to Trump’s desk as quick as attainable, however Home Methods and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) has warned that delaying work on tax measures may threat Trump’s 2017 tax cuts expiring on the finish of the 12 months.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the Home Freedom Caucus that has additionally advocated for a two-bill technique, disregarded issues about lacking that deadline.
“The Trump tax cuts will be extended. How we get there? We’ll figure it out,” Harris stated. “They will be extended. That’s the bottom line.”
The clock is ticking as Republicans purpose to get the reconciliation legislative car rolling. Johnson stated he hopes to have a legislative car ready for the eventual invoice full by late February, which might require Republicans to coalesce round a method very quickly — and make main selections in regards to the broad top-line figures within the invoice.
“That’s a very complicated process, because you have to know what those top-line reconciliation numbers are before you can write them into a resolution,” Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) stated.
With the resignation of former Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) to grow to be Trump’s nationwide safety adviser, Republicans can’t afford to lose multiple vote on the Home ground, assuming all members are current and voting. That margin for error will transfer to zero for a time period after Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) leaves to grow to be United Nations ambassador.
“The hard work is getting, you know, 218 members of Congress to agree on something,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) stated.
Fiscal hawks within the celebration will put strain on leaders to maintain the laws deficit impartial, which could possibly be troublesome.
“Spending cuts is the No. 1 thing right there, and that needs to happen, and it needs to happen quickly,” stated Clyde, a member of the hard-line conservative Home Freedom Caucus.
The Home Finances Committee Republicans put collectively an inventory of 200 potential finances cuts and tax breaks for members to think about for the reconciliation invoice.
A lot of members from high-tax states corresponding to New York and California prioritize elevating the state and native tax (SALT) deduction cap as a part of any tax bundle, offering reduction to taxpayers who beforehand had been capable of deduct extra of their state taxes from their federal taxes.
However that could possibly be costly, clashing with the priorities of fiscal hawks. Scrapping SALT deductions completely, the Finances Committee estimated, would shrink the deficit by about $1 trillion — however is a transfer SALT-focused Republicans would by no means settle for.
Some members are annoyed about how lengthy it’s taking to get some extra particular knowledge for the type of applications they’re prioritizing.
“People have to be honest brokers in the discussions, and if they’re not, and information is being held back, that’s where you’re gonna run into the problem,” one GOP member stated.
Within the second assembly with a wider group of GOP leaders, Trump emphasised the necessity for Republicans to remain unified.
“It was more so a ‘let’s work together’ kind of thing, and let’s accomplish some things,” stated Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), vice chair of the Home GOP.
Past the intraparty dynamics on the reconciliation invoice, Republicans should take care of assembly Trump’s legislative priorities.
One prime Trump merchandise, eliminating taxes on ideas, is estimated by the Finances Committee to price $106 billion over 10 years. Scalise stated Trump introduced up his no tax on ideas marketing campaign path promise within the Tuesday assembly.
One other Trump precedence is the debt ceiling. Trump stays offended a couple of debt restrict deadline that got here up throughout his first time period and doesn’t need Democrats to make use of the must-pass laws as a leverage level to extract concessions in his second time period, as Republicans did with former President Biden in 2023.
Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), the Home GOP coverage chair who was on the second assembly with GOP leaders Tuesday, stated Trump brings up the debt restrict “all the time.”
Republicans had initially considered elevating the debt restrict as a part of the reconciliation invoice to avoid Democrats utilizing it as a leverage level, however chatter has elevated about pairing it with another type of must-pass measure — corresponding to catastrophe help for California wildfires, or continuation of presidency funding that runs out on Mar. 14 — to be able to keep away from much more GOP fiscal hawk calls for for spending cuts as a situation of elevating the debt restrict.
Hern stated Trump is leaving the debt restrict technique as much as GOP leaders.
“Whatever it is, he’s perfectly OK with it just long as it gives him some breathing room to get the policies done,” Hern stated.
Scalise stated leaders are nonetheless evaluating the debt restrict.
“We haven’t made a final decision on the debt ceiling,” Scalise stated Tuesday, including, “Obviously, you’re looking at government funding as well, and there’s possibly an avenue where we would have the debt ceiling in the government funding bill.”
Mychael Schnell contributed.
