Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s appearance at a press conference with Speaker Mike Johnson Thursday was intended to calm fears among House conservatives that the Senate would eventually roll them on spending cuts.
It helped do the trick. House Republicans ended up narrowly approving the compromise budget resolution the Senate passed five days earlier. Only two House Republicans voted no. A dozen others had been threatening to oppose the resolution.
Standing beside Johnson, Thune was very careful. The South Dakota Republican said the Senate would be “as aggressive as possible” on spending cuts and maintained that the two chambers are aligned. But he didn’t commit to a specific number.
Thune’s comments didn’t weaken the Senate’s negotiating position. Nor did he guarantee that House Republicans wouldn’t get jammed with a final package that falls short of the $1.5 trillion in spending cuts they’re demanding.
Thune and Senate Republicans emerged from this latest saga with their leverage over the House mostly intact. That’s important for Thune as Hill Republicans enter the most complicated phase of the reconciliation process.
In an interview after the House passed the budget resolution, Thune doubled down.
“We’ll see what’s achievable when it comes to [spending cuts],” Thune told us. “We obviously have people in all different camps on how much we do in terms of savings. But in the end, it’s 51 and 218. That’s the math.”
It’s a delicate balancing act for Thune. He was reflecting the will of his own conference, which includes a strong contingent of senators drawing the line on Medicaid cuts. Leading up to the House’s vote Thursday morning, Thune even flashed some rare public frustration with House Republicans.
“At some point, these guys just have to take yes for an answer,” Thune told us. “We’re aligned. We’re completely aligned with the House.”
Thune reasserted his leverage by noting — again — that the Senate is subject to stricter rules about what can be done under the filibuster-proof reconciliation process, particularly when it comes to spending cuts.
“Because the House isn’t subject to the Byrd Rule and the Senate is, as we think through how we do this and what we can achieve, we’re gonna have to be in very close coordination [and] consultation with the House,” Thune said.
Thune also has a new faction to deal with in his conference. GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Thom Tillis (N.C.), John Curtis (Utah) and Jerry Moran (Kan.) sent Thune a letter this week warning against full repeal of clean energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act. This position is in direct conflict with Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-Texas) demand that Congress “fully repeal the damaging ‘green scam’ subsidies” in the law.
What the House markup schedule will look like. House Republican leaders initially wanted their committees to mark up pieces of the reconciliation package before the Senate did.
But now House Republicans are reworking their strategy. The House GOP leadership and committee chairs are currently discussing dates for each panel, working to ensure markups don’t overlap.
The GOP leadership’s original plan for the House Ways and Means Committee — which is responsible for the mammoth task of writing Republicans’ multi-trillion dollar tax-cut bill — was to have a markup during the week of May 5.
But Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) was noncommittal on his markup timeline at a fundraiser Thursday. Ways and Means is expected to work on a different timeline now, largely due to the differences between the House and Senate instructions.
The GOP leadership is encouraging House committees to work closely with their Senate counterparts, which is going to take some juggling.
Raising the debt limit is another key issue that will drive this timeline. House and Senate Republicans have different reconciliation instructions for increasing the nation’s borrowing authority. While the Treasury Department hasn’t given an official “X date” yet, CBO says it could fall sometime in August or September. CBO, however, warned that the deadline could move up to late May or June if tax revenue falls short of projections.
More news: Smith and a group of lawmakers are going on a codel over the House recess that includes a visit to the notorious El Salvador prison, CECOT, where the Trump administration has sent hundreds of migrants – including at least one wrongfully so. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem also visited the prison in late March.
Caine confirmed: In a middle-of-the-night series of votes, the Senate confirmed Air Force Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine as the new chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The confirmation vote was 60-25, with 15 Democrats crossing the aisle to back Caine, who President Donald Trump nominated in March.
Caine replaces Gen. C.Q. Brown in the Joint Chiefs role. Trump fired Brown in February in a controversial move that angered Democrats.
The Senate first reinstated and promoted Caine to major general before confirming him. Caine had retired in January.
Following the Caine vote, the Senate left town for a two-week recess. Senators will next vote on April 28.
