Senate Republicans are reportedly raring to go with an alternative route to fast-track President Donald Trump’s agenda through Congress even as party leaders in the House have not yet finalized their own plan after months of discussions.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Politico this week that “text is ready” for a budget blueprint that would unlock the reconciliation process, something House leaders have been racing to finish themselves amid intraparty debate on what to include in the legislation. The Senate plan would advance a two-bill package, which Thune has been urging despite pushback from House Republican leaders who want to pass just one massive spending bill.
“We’ve been ready for a while,” Thune told the outlet. “Everything is ready to go.”
Under that plan, it’s likely the Senate would move to pass a first reconciliation bill that includes Trump’s proposals for immigration and energy policies, with a more complex tax-focused package to follow later in the year.
Some House Republicans have pushed against that strategy, warning that the policies implemented in Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would expire if they are not included in the first go-around. Portions of those cuts are scheduled to lapse at the end of 2025.
It’s not clear when the Senate would move forward with such a plan, and Thune said the timeline mostly depends on “what the House is going to do.”
GOP representatives met earlier this week in Doral, Florida, for their annual issues conference with the intent to finalize a blueprint for reconciliation. 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.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters they would settle on a topline number shortly and that the House Budget Committee would begin marking up its own resolution next week — kickstarting an ambitious timeline to compile the spending package and pass it through Congress sometime in April.
But Johnson and other House leaders have been stalled by some members in the conference who have voiced disagreement with portions of the package. Because the party has only a one-seat majority, Johnson has little room for error on a bill that is unlikely to garner any Democratic support.
The House Budget Committee is still planning to move forward with the one-bill strategy and release budget reconciliation instructions, which sets the topline number for tax and spending levels. Once that passes the House and Senate, individual committees will get to work to craft legislative text for the massive package.
“This will be the most consequential legislation of the next four years and it’s important we get it right,” Texas Rep. Jodey Arrington, chairman of the House Budget Committee, told the Deseret News in a statement. “Reigniting our economy, reining-in wasteful spending, and providing critical investment in our nation’s security is the overarching goal. We will work as a team and continue to allow members to drive a consensus plan in support of President Trump’s agenda to make America safe and prosperous again.”
To accomplish that, several lawmakers have acknowledged they won’t get everything they want. However, some members have warned against declaring non-negotiables, 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, told the Deseret News in Florida. “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.”