In a meeting described as "intense" by Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), House GOP Conference Chair, two dozen Republicans sat down with Donald Trump at the White House to try and hash out the complex budget bill, stymied by factionalism and an inability to agree on whether there should be one or two bills to pass Trump's agenda.
After the meeting, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said, “We had a very productive meeting. We are narrowing down the areas of differences.”
Senate Republicans have been egging on their colleagues in the House, putting pressure on them by threatening to introduce their own budget bill. While not unheard of, a Senate bill passed before a House budget measure would complicate the reconciliation process, where only a simple majority is needed to pass a budget bill in the Senate.
The key elements in the budget bill are the extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts with some changes like an adjustment to the state and local tax (SALT) rate, whether the tax cuts should be made permanent, and changes to the tax treatment of carried interest. Some Republicans want to put a five-year limit on the tax cut extension in order to bring down the total cost of the cuts. Trump also wants to end taxes on tips, overtime pay, and seniors’ Social Security payments.
“We didn’t solve the SALT problem, but we got probably, you know, closer even on that issue.” More broadly, he said, “There are a number of issues that had been unresolved. We resolved a few of them. We got a whole lot closer to locking down some of the remaining items.”
They may have gotten closer, but the Senate is breathing down their necks.
House Republicans may also face a competing proposal from their GOP counterparts in the Senate.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., is expected to introduce a separate budget measure next week.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo, the number-two Republican in the Senate, told reporters Thursday evening that the Senate bill will include provisions covering energy, border and the military.
Barrasso will travel with a group of senators to meet with Trump in Florida on Friday.
"We want to go with urgency," Barrasso said. "We want to make sure we get something done."
The whole package is expected to be ready by next Tuesday, says House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). The Washington Examiner reports, "The legislation his caucus is building is shaping up to be a sprawling multitrillion-dollar plan extending $3 trillion in tax cuts, clawing back government spending by rescinding items such as Biden administration-era climate and environmental funding, allocating funding toward targeting illegal immigration and building a wall at the southern border, and boosting oil and gas energy production."
“So our message to our friends and colleagues in the Senate is, allow the House to do its work. We are moving this as quickly and as expeditiously as possible,” Johnson said. “Very positive developments today. We’re really grateful for the president for leaning in and doing what he does best. And that is [to] put a steady hand at the wheel and get everybody working. And that’s what happened today.”
“In the end, it will take presidential leadership. It will take him twisting arms. He might have to twist them hard,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said, according to the Hill.
The GOP Senate is eager to get going. It has a $300 billion package of immigration enforcement and defense spending priorities it wants to pass.
Senate GOP leaders say their smaller initial bill targeting border security and illegal immigration could be approved within the first 30 days of the new administration. Legislation proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) targeting those priorities and boosting defense spending would cost roughly $300 billion. A later bill proposal to implement Trump’s tax priorities would come in legislation later in 2025.
Graham, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, announced his panel will begin hearings to launch the process next week. Graham has similarly said his panel will hold hearings on the lower chamber’s budget negotiations next week, perhaps as early as Tuesday.
Trump did exactly what presidents are supposed to do; he began knocking Republican heads together to try and get them on the same page.
If getting Congress to do a president's bidding is like herding cats, no one ever said you couldn't gently rap a cat's butt once and a while to get it moving in the right direction.
