DORAL, Florida — House Republicans have spent weeks poring over proposals to include in their upcoming budget reconciliation bill to enact President Donald Trump’s sweeping agenda while also ensuring tax and spending cuts.
Now they face their next big challenge: Overcome internal squabbling to cut a deal and get their package out the door.
GOP representatives began their annual issues conference on Monday aiming to finalize a blueprint for Republicans’ massive reconciliation package. But by the time the retreat came to an end on Wednesday, lawmakers appeared to have few more concrete details than when they arrived — noting only that they are nearing an agreement for a topline number that should be released within the next week.
“We’ll be getting to that final number. What we emphasize with our group is that we want to have some flexibility in how the instructions are given to the committees,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters on Wednesday. “So stay tuned for the number. It would be substantial, because it has to be.”
Although a topline has not yet been decided, Johnson said they hope to use that number as a floor rather than a ceiling, noting he wants “flexibility” for committees when they begin hashing out the details.
Once they land on that number, members of the the House Budget Committee are expected to begin marking up a resolution next week with instructions for committees to craft individual portions of the bill. When that is settled and passed by the House and Senate, individual committees will get to work to compile a massive package to be voted on by both chambers, which party leaders hope to complete by the beginning of April.
That leaves House Republicans with an ambitious schedule and little wiggle room. The party has only a one-seat majority in the lower chamber, giving them virtually no room for error on a package that is unlikely to garner any Democratic support.
And some Republicans have already expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of progress despite days of meetings.
“After two days at our House Republican winter retreat, we still do not have a plan on budget reconciliation and our Speaker and his team have not offered one,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said in a post on X. “Next time we meet, I hope to know a framework of our plan and I hope this doesn’t turn into another bill with thousands of pages dumped on us with less than 72 hours to read it all before we have to vote on the eve of another government shutdown.”
House Freedom Caucus criticizes GOP retreat
The House Freedom Caucus also released a statement criticizing the retreat despite having several members in attendance, arguing lawmakers may leave the conference with a lack of direction.
“Are you a Republican Member of Congress leaving Miami today feeling rudderless when it comes to reconciliation?” the group said in a statement on X. “Are you worried you may be dragged into a process that will cause you to break your America First campaign promises? Do you want a plan to unite Republicans and advance President Trump’s agenda?”
Instead, the group has promoted its own plan on reconciliation, breaking with leadership’s push for one spending bill by calling for a two-step strategy.
Meanwhile, some members grumbling over a lack of progress opted not to attend the retreat at all — calling it a waste of time and money.
“It is being reported I am not at the so-called Republican retreat in Florida. I am not,” Rep. Chip Roy, a prominent member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said in a post on X. “I am in Texas, with my family & meeting with constituents, rather than spending $2K to hear more excuses for increasing deficits & not being in DC to deliver Trump’s border security (funding) ASAP.”
The internal dissension puts GOP leadership in a bind as they attempt to take the interests of the entire Republican conference and incorporate them into a single reconciliation package.
Utah’s Rep. Blake Moore laughed about the “lovely burden” that Republican leadership must juggle to balance their own legislative priorities with the reality of crafting a package that all members will agree to. That task, he said, will take some sacrifice.
“My biggest priority is making sure that we don’t have the largest tax increase on American history under Republican watch,” Moore told the Deseret News. “We have multiple bites of the apple if we want to govern responsibly for the next two years. Then if we do that, get another shot. We get another chance to be in the majority for two more years. And you look at the four years of the Trump administration, it can be a really great thing, unless we quibble.”
Other Republicans have also urged unity, especially as Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance told lawmakers earlier this week they’ll need to “stick together” to advance their agenda.
“Passing historic legislation is never easy, but we won a mandate to secure the border and reignite our economy,” Rep. Addison McDowell, a freshman Republican from North Carolina, told the Deseret News. “President Trump has already started to deliver and it’s our duty in Congress to do the same.”
To accomplish that, several lawmakers have acknowledged they won’t get everything they want. However, some members have warned against declaring nonnegotiables, noting it’s impossible to ensure all lawmakers have their demands met in full.
“We’re all negotiating, and if everybody has a redline, we’re going to get to the point where no one can get anything done,” Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, said. “Leadership has provided a lot of opportunities to go talk to them about what we need to see in the bill. … So if we end up in a situation where at the last minute, when the bills are going for a vote, people suddenly have complaints, we’ll know for sure this time that they just want to complain.”