DORAL, Fla. — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a Tuesday interview with The Hill’s Emily Brooks floated the potential for working with Democrats to lift the debt ceiling as a substitute of together with it within the GOP’s reconciliation bundle, which Republicans hope to cross in a party-line vote.
“No final decision yet, but part of the decision matrix is that we’re looking at the pros and cons of those various angles,” Johnson stated when requested if he has determined the right way to deal with the thorny problem. “I was originally thinking that we would include it in the reconciliation process, because that’s just a partisan exercise that doesn’t require Democrat votes.”
The dialog — which passed off at Trump Nationwide Doral, the place Home GOP lawmakers are gathering for his or her annual retreat — got here as Home Republicans are staring down a high-stakes stretch of legislating, together with advancing President Trump’s want listing of insurance policies, funding the federal government by subsequent month’s deadline and elevating the debt restrict this summer season to keep away from an financial default, all with the slimmest of majorities.
Johnson shifted from his preliminary plan of together with the debt hike within the GOP’s reconciliation bundle as a result of Senate Republicans did not assume it might be potential to lift the debt ceiling on a GOP-only vote.
“I think there’s some concern in the Senate that that might be difficult to do on a partisan basis, and so it may wind up being a bipartisan exercise,” he added. “So where that fits in and in what sequence is part of the discussion here, and we’ll make that determination here in the coming week or so.”
The debt ceiling will likely be one of many thorniest issues Johnson must confront, as he works to construct consensus amongst hard-line Republicans who’re pushing for steep spending cuts, moderates weary of slashing an excessive amount of federal funding, and conservatives who’ve by no means supported a debt restrict hike and are usually not inclined to now.
Trump has expressed opposition to giving Democrats a chance to leverage wins by counting on their votes in negotiations over the borrowing restrict.
He has on plenty of events criticized the deal then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struck with then-President Biden to droop the borrowing restrict for 2 years.
Along with discussing technique for transferring Trump’s agenda, Johnson on Tuesday defended the Trump administration’s widespread pause on federal grants and loans, which have led to confusion amongst nonprofit teams and lawmakers, and sparked outrage from Democrats. A decide quickly paused the freeze Tuesday.
Requested by The Hill if he has any considerations in regards to the order, Johnson responded, “I don’t. I fully support it.”
“It is a temporary pause; for some programs it could be an hours-long pause. It is not a thing,” Johnson stated. “Some of the programs have already been approved. This is a, I believe, an application of common sense. We want to make sure that the executive orders are the new president are being fully complied with with regard to these programs. I think these will be quick reviews, I don’t think this is a big, major interruption of programming or anything, and it specifies in the OMB guidance that any direct aid individuals is not included in this.”
The performing director of the Workplace of Administration and Finances (OMB) issued a memo late Monday directing federal companies to quickly pause “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”
A federal decide blocked the order from taking impact moments earlier than it was to take action at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Johnson additionally mentioned his relationship with Trump and up to date feedback the president has made, together with when he floated working for a 3rd time period on Monday. Whereas talking to Home Republicans on the retreat in Florida, Trump stated, “I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100 percent sure, because I don’t know. I think I’m not allowed to run again, I’m not sure.”
Trump then turned to Johnson, a former constitutional lawyer, who was sitting beside the president.
“Am I allowed to run again, Mike?” Trump stated, including: “I better not get you involved in that.”
Johnson on Tuesday described Trump’s remarks as “tongue in cheek.”
