Republican Speaker of the House and Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson is moving ahead with a plan to enact a massive portion of President Donald Trump’s agenda before summer arrives, according to Saturday reports.
The Speaker said that he and other Republican leaders are working hard to enact the president’s agenda before Memorial Day, Fox News reported.
“More than a year ago, the House began discussing the components of a reconciliation package that will reduce the deficit, secure our border, keep taxes low for families and job creators, reestablish American energy dominance, restore peace through strength, and make government more efficient and accountable to the American people. We are now one step closer to achieving those goals,” the Speaker and other Republican leaders said in a letter to the House GOP caucus.
“Today, the Senate passed its version of the budget resolution. Next week, the House will consider the Senate amendment,” he said.
Republicans intend to push a massive conservative policy agenda by using the reconciliation process, which is normally done when one party holds all three branches of government. The process lowers for a simple majority vote in the Senate — 51 — rather than the filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.
The process was used by Democrats in 2010 to pass the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which amended the Affordable Care Act.
Just after 2 a.m. on Saturday, the Senate passed a framework of the reconciliation legislation that includes around $4 billion in spending cuts.
But that is not enough for some hardline Republicans who have vowed to vote against the legislation.
“If the Senate’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ budget is put on the House floor, I will vote no,” Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy said on X.
“In the classic ways of Washington, the Senate’s budget presents a fantastic top-line message – that we should return spending back to the pre-COVID trajectory (modified for higher interest, Medicare, and Social Security) of $6.5 Trillion, rather than the current trajectory of over $7 Trillion – but has ZERO enforcement to achieve it, and plenty of signals it is designed purposefully NOT to achieve it,” he added.
House GOP leaders said in their letter that the Senate version simply allows the lower chamber to begin working on their version and does not impede their work.
“The Senate amendment as passed makes NO CHANGES to the House reconciliation instructions that we voted for just weeks ago. Although the Senate chose to take a different approach on its instructions, the amended resolution in NO WAY prevents us from achieving our goals in the final reconciliation bill,” Republican leaders said in the letter.
“We have and will continue to make it clear in all discussions with the Senate and the White House that—in order to secure House passage—the final reconciliation bill must include historic spending reductions while protecting essential programs,” they said.
“We have made it clear the House will NOT accept nor participate in an ‘us versus them’ process resulting in a take it or leave it proposition from the Senate,” the Republicans said.
However, Johnson reaffirmed his commitment to having legislation on Trump’s desk before the end of next month.
“Immediately following House adoption of the budget resolution, our House and Senate committees will begin preparing together their respective titles of the reconciliation bill to be marked up in the next work period,” they said.
House Budget Committee Chairman and Texas Republican Rep. Jodey Arrington said that what the Senate passed was “unserious and disappointing,” but vowed that he would work with leaders of his party to find the best path forward.
“I am committed to working with President Trump, House leadership, and my Senate counterparts to address these concerns and ensure the final reconciliation bill makes America safe, prosperous, and fiscally responsible again,” he said.
