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President Donald Trump huddled with House Republicans earlier this week to look ahead to the new year and strategize a game plan to defend their ever-so-small majority in November. (To catch up on that, I covered it here.)
The hourslong briefing touched on a lot: health care, tariffs, the economy, and more. But lawmakers also weighed another option that was once a top priority for Republicans but has since fallen to the wayside: a second reconciliation bill, the same procedure they utilized to pass Trump’s massive tax package last summer.
A senior Republican lawmaker granted anonymity to talk about the party’s plans told me that a second reconciliation bill was discussed as a possibility during the closed-door meeting on Tuesday. The only remaining questions are what to include and how long it would take.
Oh yeah, and if they have enough motivation from both the House and Senate to actually get it through.
“There’s clear motivation from the House to do it. I’m not seeing clear indicators from the Senate that there’s a lot of momentum right now, but I think there would be 51 senators that would absolutely want to do something,” Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, told me after the briefing.
In terms of policy, Moore told me there was a lot of talk around focusing this package on trade policy as well as some health care proposals that were stripped from the first one because they didn’t adhere to the strict budget reconciliation rules. Those areas, Moore said, would likely garner the support needed to get the package passed, while acknowledging the bill “won’t be anywhere near the gravity or the size of the one we did last July.”
Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, similarly told me that Republicans are “definitely going to do another reconciliation bill” although the focus has not yet been decided.
“It will not be as powerful and potent as the person was,” he conceded, but he told me it would nonetheless be big.
So… it raises the question: Can this thing get done? Republicans don’t have a lot of time.
Last year, Republican leaders touted plans to get two (and maybe even three!) of these reconciliation bills done before the end of 2026. So far, it’s just been the one — and we are approaching midterm campaign season that will surely suck a lot of time out of the schedule.
Remember: The first reconciliation bill took six months to finish. Republicans won’t have that same luxury with their other responsibilities.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., hinted at another reconciliation bill in an interview with Scott Jennings this week, noting that Republicans are “working right now very methodically” to determine a path forward.
The plan, he said, would be to move that package “early in the year” — whatever that might mean!
But like Moore said, it might depend on the Senate. And they haven’t really said they’re sold on the idea of doing the whole reconciliation thing again.
The vibe right now is that if Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., thinks there is a good reason to do it, it’s a good tool to use, a source familiar with his thinking told me. But currently, the focus is on selling the Big Beautiful Bill from last year — otherwise known as the Working Families Tax Cut Bill, as it has been rebranded to make it more palatable for a general audience.
“I would say his focus (and the conferences) is on selling the Working Families Tax Cuts and making sure the American people know what’s in it, how much money they are saving, etc,” a senior GOP aide told me. “There’s a huge push to get out and pick apart the bill since there is really something for everyone in it. (He) wants to make sure we learned from post-2017 TCJA when we didn’t do a good enough job selling it and explaining how beneficial it really was.”
Flashback: The TCJA, or Tax Cuts and Job Acts, was Trump’s first major signature bill. But like this aide is pointing out, Republicans have long believed they didn’t quite sell it well enough — and that’s why they lost the 2018 midterms.
So, we are putting Thune in the “maybe” column. But there’s definitely some appetite among his GOP conference.
Take Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., for example, who took to the Senate floor this week to say this: “I’m shameless, I’ll beg. I’ll get down on my knees. Please bring another reconciliation bill. Please John. Please let us do another bill.”
Stay tuned.
Stories Driving the Week
- State of play: President Donald Trump will deliver the State of the Union address on Feb. 24, marking the first time he’ll give the annual speech during his second term and the second time he’ll address all of Congress since being reelected.
- 2026 watch: The House Republican conference met for a closed-door policy and strategy forum on Tuesday at the Kennedy Center as rank-and-file members pressed top leaders for guidance as most of them seek reelection in November — some in highly competitive races. Here’s what they talked about.
- Venezuela updates: Republican leaders are defending the Trump administration’s decision to strike Venezuela and capture the country’s president even as top Democrats say there has not been enough clarity about a path forward — or the extent to which the United States will oversee a transfer of power.
Congress makes progress on avoiding January shutdown
The House passed a trio of appropriations bills on Thursday, marking some positive developments in terms of funding for the 2026 fiscal year. (Yes, we are already three months in.)
The House passed all three in a bipartisan fashion, funding the Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment and Energy-Water bills for the rest of the fiscal year. The bills now head to the Senate for a vote as early as next week.
That would leave just six more to complete the full budget for the 2026 fiscal year. But there are still some challenges ahead. Some of the outstanding bills are the most difficult to negotiate, such as defense or homeland security.
The next deadline is midnight on Jan. 30, after which a partial shutdown will take place for the government departments and agencies that did not receive federal funding. Lawmakers could pass another temporary extension, although those are usually seen as a last resort.
Other legislation could also get in the way of appropriations progress. For example, the Senate on Thursday advanced a war powers resolution to rein in President Donald Trump’s military abilities in Venezuela, teeing it up for a final vote next week.
Before we get there, the bill will have to go through two more procedural votes and is eligible for unlimited amendments and debate in what is known as a vote-a-rama. Yeah, remember that during reconciliation last year? Not fun.
That could eat up hours, if not days, of floor time — which would delay spending bills.
Scheduling note: The Senate is out Jan. 19–23 for the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. So there’s even less time to get everything done.
Quick Hits
From the Hill: Congress rejects Trump’s $1 billion cut to National Park Service in latest spending bill. … Utah congressman breaks with Trump on Greenland. … Here are the Utah lawmakers who voted to override Trump’s veto.
From the White House: Trump pulls U.S. from more than 60 international organizations. … What’s in, what’s out in new federal food guidelines? … Man arrested for causing property damage at JD Vance’s Ohio home.
From the courts: Wyoming’s Supreme Court abortion ruling is a warning sign for Utah. … Woman shot, killed by ICE agent in Minneapolis. … Colorado coal plant re-electrified after federal order.
What’s next
Both the House and Senate are back next week. We expect more movement on spending bills and for those health care talks to ramp back up.
As always, feel free to reach out to me by email with story ideas or questions you have for lawmakers. And follow me on X for breaking news and timely developments from the Hill.