House Speaker Mike Johnson told Republicans on Saturday that President-elect Donald Trump wants one reconciliation plan, not the two plans that Republican leaders have been pushing, debated. Three people at the venue told Politico.
Johnson’s message comes as Republicans are meeting behind closed doors in Fort McNair to strategize on passing sweeping border, tax and energy bills that will be central to Congress’ agenda. Announced. According to three Louisiana Republicans, Mr. Trump told Mr. Johnson at a social gathering that he wanted a “big, beautiful bill.”
President Trump’s decision is a departure from Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s proposal for a two-bill strategy in which Republicans would pass a border bill and an energy bill first, followed by a tax bill. Johnson had previously suggested there would be two bills, seen as a way to respect Trump’s preferences and ensure early success for his policies. Thune stopped by a House Republican rally on Saturday, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Politico.
Trump’s decision is a victory for House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Missouri), who has been pushing Republicans to pass one bill instead of two. Mr. Smith and his allies warned that separating the tax package into its own reconciliation bill risks not passing a bill at all to extend the 2017 tax cuts that expire at the end of the year.
Every step of the process will require near unanimity among Congressional Republicans, who currently operate with just a one-vote margin in the House.
“We can’t afford to lose anyone,” Smith said in a brief interview after the Republican withdrawal.
Republicans have a wide divide to bridge over tax strategy, and border and energy are seen as sweeteners to vie for Republican votes.
“My sole focus is to deliver on all of the priorities that the American people want: taxes, borders and energy,” Smith said. “And I’ve always thought the best process to do that is to go through one process.”
Smith noted that neither political party has succeeded in passing two reconciliation bills in the same year in recent decades. Most recently, Congressional Democrats fought internally for much of 2021 and into 2022 to enact a second settlement, envisioned under the “Build Back Better” plan that ultimately became the Inflation Control Act. abandoned many of its policies.
“Look at the history,” Smith said Saturday. “Democrats couldn’t even do that.”
Smith was one of several members of Congress who presented plans to rank and file Republicans during a series of panel discussions on Saturday. Two Republicans said Smith stayed on after President Trump’s New Year’s Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago for reconciliation talks.
President Trump’s press secretary did not respond to a request for comment.
Johnson also met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Day to discuss strategy for 2025. Mr. Johnson has been tight-lipped about the talks, but some House Republicans have indicated in recent days that they are hopeful a deal will eventually be reached. The One Bill strategy, and the fact that it was supported by some in Trump’s orbit.
Republicans backing a two-track strategy have touted it as a way to win on the border, one of the party’s main priorities, within the first month of government, while also giving Johnson a narrow lead. That will give you more time to fill in. It will soon lose two members to the Trump administration, reducing its immediate majority to 217 members. In addition to Thune, the strategy had other prominent supporters, including incoming White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.), and members of the House Freedom Caucus. .
And Republicans have already argued that a single-bill strategy would mean it would take months to pass Congress, depriving the party of any chance of an immediate win within the first few weeks of a Republican trifecta. I had warned him that something would happen.
“That can’t be the first thing you do. Nine years ago, it took months to introduce the first tax cut bill. The bottom line is, if that’s what the president wants, wait until the summer until everything is resolved.” We have to,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) said on FOX News Live On. Saturday.
It would also throw a curveball at House leadership’s agreement to raise the debt ceiling under the settlement. As part of government funding negotiations last year, House Republican leaders told lawmakers they would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion as part of the first round of reconciliation and cut spending by $2.5 trillion as part of the reconciliation process. Then I told him.
But Republican leaders have yet to develop a plan across both chambers and coordinate with Trump, according to three people familiar with the ongoing discussions. Both parties are discussing several options, including addressing the debt ceiling as part of the settlement, as Republicans have previously discussed.
“There’s still a lot to figure out about the debt ceiling,” a person familiar with the ongoing settlement negotiations acknowledged.
But Republican lawmakers kept their concerns mostly to themselves Saturday morning, with the party poised to defer to Trump’s strategic preferences.
“No one is fighting it. If that’s President Trump’s call, that’s the strategy we’ll run,” one Republican said.
Jennifer Scholtes and Benjamin Guggeheim contributed to this report.
