CNN
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Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress recently shared some of the first details of their ambitious agenda, which includes sweeping tax cuts, border security and a debt ceiling hike, in the first 100 days of the president-elect’s term. I want to accomplish this with all my might. .
And all of that with one of the smallest House majorities in history.
Speaker Mike Johnson, speaking after House Republicans gathered over the weekend for policy and leadership setbacks, said President Trump was pushing for a single bill.
“At the end of the day, President Trump would prefer a ‘big, beautiful bill,’ as he likes to say. And there’s a lot of merit to that… There are so many elements to it, and it’s hard to negotiate it. Because it’s going to take a little bit more time to get it right,” Johnson told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.” ”
This would be a huge undertaking, especially given the narrow Republican margin and the ambitious timeline of getting the bill to President Trump’s desk by the end of April.
Republicans are considering using a budget process called “reconciliation” to pass the bill on Capitol Hill. In this budget process, bills are approved by a simple majority (51 votes) in the Senate. But approving each reconciliation bill requires two steps and a series of marathon votes, and the bills must pass a vote in the Senate under strict budget rules.
Reconciliation bills are typically introduced once a year under one-party control of Congress.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune has previously said the plan is to propose two separate settlements, which is also a very difficult task given the narrow margins in both chambers. .
“Another of our early priorities, and another reason why the timeline for the first 100 days is particularly demanding, is to pass a reconciliation package with once-in-a-generation investments in border security and immigration. ,” Thun said in a December filing. In his floor speech, he laid out his legislative priorities for 2025.
“And, of course, we will continue to work on a settlement to expand the tax breaks that Republicans provided to Americans during the first Trump administration,” he added.
If the consolidation bill actually passes the House and goes to the Senate, Thune said much of President Trump’s agenda would need to be passed under reconciliation. But he believes measures such as border security can be passed under regular orders with Democratic support.
“It would be ideal if we could find a way to do things on a 60-vote basis. And we have a lot of work to do. I think the Biden-Harris border policy of the last four years has been a huge failure, “Given the current situation, I think we need a generational investment in the border,” he said in an interview on CBS’ “Faith” that aired Sunday. Nation! ”
This is in contrast to the idea of implementing one comprehensive settlement package. And Thune said earlier in the same interview that in order to help Trump “succeed” in passing his agenda, he needed to help Trump understand what he could do within the limits of the Senate’s capabilities. He said there is.
“I think we all want to get to the same destination, but there are sometimes differences in how we get there. And understanding the unique aspects of how the Senate operates is something I share. “We need to communicate that to the president so he understands what the contours are and what we can accomplish here in the Senate,” he said. Said.
Many senators argue that reinvigorating Trump’s presidency with a border bill packed with widely popular Republican ideas is a better political move than risking a protracted tax battle.
But Republican House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith warned that it was the “wrong strategy,” telling CNN’s Dana Bash in December that passing both bills across the finish line is extremely unlikely. He said it would be difficult and jeopardize tax cuts that are set to expire in 2017. This year I’m on my way.
“I believe the first reconciliation bill needs to be a comprehensive reconciliation bill that addresses expiring tax provisions. It also addresses energy, the border, immigration, and some spending cuts.” Smith said on CNN’s “Inside Politics.”
“I think that’s what we need to do to get the votes we need to thread the needle and move it to the U.S. Senate,” he said.
He added, “Failure is not an option.”
Republican Rep. Don Bacon acknowledged the path won’t be easy.
“Achieving a three-seat settlement, a three-seat majority, is not an easy task. I think people at the border know that it has to be done. It’s going to be a little more difficult when it comes to taxes. But we have to do it,” he said Friday.
Johnson told CNN on Friday that Trump’s support was a “huge factor” in the Louisiana Republican’s bid to remain speaker.
“President Trump is…certainly the most powerful president in modern times, perhaps in the history of the United States,” Johnson said. “His voice and influence is extraordinary, and I’m grateful and humbled by his support, and I think that was a big factor.”
In addition to the president-elect’s direct dialogue with resistance groups, key Republican members of Congress have stood by Mr. Johnson and sought to clear up past grievances while charting a path forward, especially regarding the impending reconciliation struggle.
“Honest people looked each other in the eye and made some commitments,” one Republican lawmaker said of the private conversations.
A group of House Republicans who had been skeptical of Johnson released a letter outlining a list of demands they wanted him to accept.
Eleven House Republicans called on Johnson to add the session date to the House calendar. Ensure that any adjustment package includes significant spending cuts. And don’t consider bills that depend heavily on Democratic support or before the 72 hours that members are allotted to consider them.
“Today, we voted for Mike Johnson for Speaker of the House of Representatives in steadfast support of President Trump and to ensure the timely certification of the electors,” the lawmakers wrote. “We did this despite our sincere reservations about the Chair’s performance over the past 15 months.”
Lawmakers listed their legislative priorities and said Johnson had “no margin for error”.
President Trump had hoped to act on the debt ceiling now so as not to affect the ambitious agenda he wants to pass through Congress next year. Johnson’s move to link the debt ceiling hike with a settlement plan is likely to anger the same hardline conservatives who called for a single bill.
In a Fox interview on Sunday, Johnson said it would be difficult to get Republicans to accept a debt ceiling. “There’s a lot of moving parts, a lot of things to negotiate, and a lot of opinions on all of that,” Johnson said. “So we’re going to be working a lot of hours on the whiteboard to make sure all the Republicans are on board.”
