WASHINGTON — Republicans are making plans to draft and pass a massive party-line bill early next year in Donald Trump’s new administration, seeing it as a vehicle for a variety of priorities from tax cuts to increased funding for immigration enforcement.
The legislation would use the budget “reconciliation process,” which would allow them to pass policies related to taxes and spending without requiring Democratic votes. Republican leaders want to jumpstart the process with a budget that sets the parameters for the bill in early January, before Trump takes office, two sources with knowledge of the push said.
Their main goal is to expand Trump’s 2017 tax law and prevent $3.3 trillion in tax breaks from expiring at the end of 2025.
But the party is aiming bigger.
In interviews, senior Republicans said they also want to use the bill to give the new administration more resources to carry out border enforcement and Trump’s promise of “mass deportations,” repealing clean energy funding in President Joe’s Inflation Reduction Act Biden and want to use the package to cut other federal spending.
The reconciliation process bypasses the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for most bills, requiring only a majority vote to pass a tax and spending package once per fiscal year. Republicans will have 53 votes in the Senate, allowing them to have three renegades. But the House of Representatives will pose a greater challenge as the party is on track to have a razor-thin 220-215 majority, which will shrink even further early in the Trump era as some Republican members leave to join to join his government.
“I told all freshmen and returning members, be prepared for a very busy first 100 days,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. “We have to do many things at the same time. We’re going for a walk and chewing gum.’
They will also have to deal with deadlines to avoid a government shutdown and avert a disastrous national debt.
“It will be a huge challenge,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. “And the reason for that is you have razor thin margins, and obviously we’re not going to get any Democratic votes. The key will be tackling all these coalitions that are likely to threaten an insufficient number of votes unless they get their priorities straight. … It is infinitely more complex to get a reconciliation outcome out of the House of Representatives in this cycle than out of the Senate.”
Democrats are already gearing up to dismiss the package as a giveaway to the wealthy, repeating their attacks on the 2017 Trump tax law by emphasizing tax breaks for the highest earners.
“Republicans are trying to take actions that will benefit the most fortunate and grow debt for generations to come,” said Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., the newly elected chairman of the moderate New Democrat Coalition. “They have made it very clear that they will not look for a compromise. They will have to work within their own caucus, this very narrow majority.”
Tax breaks, wall money, cuts, Medicaid
Early discussions within the Republican Party included a mix of conservative ideas to be included in the reconciliation bill, recognizing that legislation outside the process is subject to 60 votes in the Senate.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said the Republican Party is “100%” committed to extending the Trump tax cuts, but with “some deviations” from existing law. He said he wants to expand child tax credits, something House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., has tried unsuccessfully to sign into law. Smith’s plan, which combined tax credits for families with children and Trump-era tax breaks for corporations, passed the House of Representatives early this year, but Senate Republicans, including Tuberville, rejected it.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said next year’s reconciliation bill could include extending Trump’s tax cuts, spending on border security and “unleashing American energy ‘.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he wants the House to pass the conservative immigration package known as HR2 “right away” in the new Congress and pass some of those provisions for reconciliation.
“Then you take what we can’t get through the Senate and put it in the reconciliation,” Jordan said.
Scalise said Republicans want to give Trump “money to build border walls” and “provide more technology for our Border Patrol agents” to do their jobs. The goal, he said, is to give Trump “all the tools he needs to help secure our border.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he wants “a credible requirement for able-bodied adults” to work to get federal benefits. He also called for exploring “mandatory” spending beyond Social Security and Medicare to reduce the red ink.
“There are a lot of opportunities for savings here, and I think that just requires the political will,” he said. “We need to bend the spending curve and start paying down some of the debt. And we also need to free up money for national security and the most dangerous world since World War II.”
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said Republicans must “use reconciliation to do everything we can to achieve a balanced budget.”
“As far as Medicaid goes, as you know, I’ve always believed in block grants. I believe in block grants,” he said. “We need to give the states more opportunity, and the states will figure out how to spend the money.”
Several Republicans, including Tuberville, said they were unsure whether the new bill would seek to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies.
The GOP is trying to cut Biden-era programs
An emerging consensus within the Republican Party is to repeal the spending programs that Democrats passed in the Biden era.
The Inflation Reduction Act “is certainly something we’re going to look at,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the new chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.
The Biden bill includes a slew of tax breaks, including consumer-oriented benefits for the purchase of electric vehicles and energy-efficient home items.
“It’s clear that the American people have been quite vocal about not being happy with the leadership of this last administration. And some of these trillions of dollars worth of giveaways are going to be in jeopardy because they weren’t good for the American economy,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., who is seen as a center-right pragmatist.
One big question Republicans will face: How much would the GOP pay, and how much would it contribute to the rising budget deficit? There are intra-party divisions, with some trying to offset the cost of the package, while others believe some new shortfalls are acceptable.
Tillis, a member of the Finance Committee, said he would allow policies he considers “pro-growth” to widen the budget deficit, but he wants to “pay for” parts of the bill that don’t fit into that category.
“There are a lot of things we can reclaim,” Tillis said. “Democrats should not be surprised that the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act are ripe for this.”
Tillis said he worries that a small group of Republicans in the House of Representatives could torpedo the package by demanding that it not increase the budget deficit. Democrats have 214 votes and they lead in the only race yet to be called, in California’s 13th District.
“This is where President Trump is going to have to be a very, very important part of the process. I heard more than three people [in the House] say they will not vote for a tax package that is not fully offset. If so, we are done,” he said. “So, how do you solve that? That’s above my pay grade, and it’s out of my room.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., proposed passing two reconciliation bills next year using the option for the next fiscal year — one with tax breaks that reflect points of agreement and another later in the year.
“Let’s make sure that we certainly get the low-hanging fruit, which I think has a lot to do with the tax extensions, what else we can do early, but in a unified way to get across the finish line quickly. ” he said. “And then we can sit down and work through some of the areas that we might also be able to agree on for a second reconciliation bill.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
