WASHINGTON, D.C. — For his first major piece of legislation in his second term, President-elect Donald Trump wants to combine a series of priorities in one bill to address his sweeping border security, energy and tax agendas.
What You Need To Know
- Congressional Republicans are discussing passing President-elect Trump's first priorities in one bill through a process called reconciliation
- The bill could include measures to address Trump's sweeping border security, energy and tax agendas
- The measure already faces some opposition from Republicans who oppose raising the government debt ceiling
In a social media post, Trump said the bill would include measure to tighten border security, lift energy regulations and renew tax cuts from his first term.
Another major—and contentious—component of what Trump called his “big, beautiful bill” is raising the government’s borrowing limit.
Because of the GOP’s razor-thin majorities in both the House and Senate, Republicans have proposed moving such a bill via a procedure called reconciliation.
Reconciliation bills pass with just a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing the filibuster. However, reconciliation proposals have some constraints, including that they must be budget-related.
Among a fractious House GOP conference, unity will be a key factor in passing any major legislation, including Trump’s proposed reconciliation bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has been meeting with members to gauge whether to pursue all of Trump’s priorities in one reconciliation package, or in two, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune has supported.
“I think the main thing that Speaker Johnson is doing is getting consensus, and he's getting us all to get it. And that's his number one priority right now, is to get us all in agreement. So we have the plan, and President Trump has it,” said Rep. Troy Balderson after attending a recent Republican Study Committee meeting.
Balderson was among a group of Republicans who discussed the measure with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday. He said he supported a one-bill approach.
Republicans have little room for error, though, and there are already signs of disagreement.
Several hard-line Republicans have said they want large spending cuts in exchange for supporting raising the debt ceiling.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said cuts could include controversial measures to bring down Medicaid costs, like work requirements or ending automatic re-enrollment for some programs.
“[You can] save money just if you have people have to, encourage them to reapply for a program. So a number of those kinds of things,” Jordan said after the Republican Study Committee meeting.
Democrats said GOP intra-party divisions gave them more leverage in discussions.
“It is very difficult to work with such slim majorities, as we saw in last Congress without Democrats and Republicans working together. And I do hope that they are thoughtful about the fact that there are 215 Democrats, who represent tens of millions of people across this country who deserve to be a part of the process and have their voices heard as well,” said Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio.
Sykes said Democrats should use that leverage to push for their preferred policies. She focused on issues that could help rebuild the Democratic brand after a bruising national election.
“However they decide to [pass a bill], it doesn’t really matter,” she said. “All I want to make sure that we're doing is lowering costs for people, onshoring jobs and keeping our community safe.”
Trump is set to meet with Senate Republicans Wednesday evening to discuss the reconciliation legislation. House Republicans have said they hoped to pass the bill out of their chamber by February.