After months of public barbs and backstabbing, House and Senate Republicans are finally moving closer to alignment on their plans to advance President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
For the first time since Republicans won the White House and Congress last November, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune seem to be singing from the same song sheet on their reconciliation plans. Johnson and Thune returned from a Tuesday meeting with Trump administration officials surprisingly unified on a host of key procedure and policy issues that will drive the next few months of high-stakes legislating.
Debt limit? In. One big, beautiful bill? Check. Trying to pass a compromise budget resolution by the Easter recess? They’re going for it.
But this is the easy part. In many ways, this surface-level progress belies the enormous challenges still ahead.
Warning signs. Thune told Senate Republicans during a closed-door lunch on Tuesday that he wants to have a compromise budget resolution on the Senate floor the week of April 7, as we scooped. That’s less than two weeks away. Thune also caught GOP senators off-guard when, during the meeting, he began to embrace the idea of addressing the debt limit in reconciliation.
Senate GOP fiscal hawks are already recoiling, demanding massive spending cuts in exchange for a debt-limit hike. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told us flat-out that he wants to use the debt limit as leverage to force Republicans to accept bigger spending cuts.
“We’ve got to keep that leverage, because obviously people in my own party aren’t serious about a reasonable spending level,” the Wisconsin Republican said.
There’s also Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has long opposed using reconciliation to raise the debt limit. Paul told us Tuesday night: “They’ve lost me.”
“There will be other conservatives who they will lose… and the whole thing goes down,” Paul added. “So they’ll have to decide.”
During the closed-door GOP lunch, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said the spending cuts must total at least $2 trillion to get his support. That’s bigger than the House budget resolution’s spending cuts number — $1.5 trillion — that many other Senate Republicans have already complained about.
“If we’re gonna put [the debt limit] in there, we’ve got to make sure we are aggressive when it comes to spending,” Lee said.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is also part of that group.
“I don’t want to vote for a debt ceiling. I want to balance the budget,” Scott told us. “If you balance the budget, then you don’t have to worry about [the debt limit].”
Senate Republicans can’t lose more than three votes on a reconciliation bill.
Debt limit pros and cons: Addressing the debt limit through budget reconciliation carries tangible benefits for Republicans.
First, it would essentially mean that the day the United States hits its borrowing limit — the so-called “X date” — becomes the deadline for passing a reconciliation package. Congress loves nothing more than a deadline, so this could be exactly what Republicans need to kick things into high gear. (Reminder: CBO will publish its “X date” projection at 10 a.m. today.)
Raising the debt limit through reconciliation also obviates the need for Democratic votes — removing a key leverage point for Democrats to make separate demands.
On the other hand, the “X date” may arrive sooner than Republicans think. Tying Trump’s entire legislative agenda to that could be flirting with disaster.
Trump the savior? Trump’s desire to address the debt limit in reconciliation is a big deal. He got conservative hardliners on board with it in the House-passed budget resolution.
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), once skeptical the debt limit was doable in reconciliation, put it this way: “It’s a priority for the president, so it’s a priority for me.”
But the Senate is a different animal. Unlike Johnson, who owes his speakership fully to Trump, Thune won the GOP leadership race on his own. And a Trump pressure campaign sometimes doesn’t have the same effect on senators.
That being said, it’s difficult to see any of the aforementioned conservatives wanting to get blamed for tanking Trump’s agenda and allowing a massive tax increase.
Also, a tax scoop: Americans for Tax Reform President and Founder Grover Norquist is sending a letter to members of Congress today with a stark warning against capping companies’ state and local tax deductions unless the revenue funds a corporate rate cut.
It’s a big statement from Norquist, the longtime GOP tax-hike opponent, that could spook lawmakers. Republicans have had discussions about the offset option, as we scooped. Companies are up in arms over it.
Two more nuggets:
— Johnson will distribute more than $4 million to House Republican lawmakers from his Grow the Majority joint fundraising committee today. This is part of the $11 million transfer Johnson announced Tuesday morning at a House Republican Conference meeting. Members will receive a check averaging $139,000.
— EMILYs List is targeting 46 House Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms, in hopes of replacing “extremist” incumbents with female lawmakers who support abortion rights. Here’s the full list.
