Rep. Mike Johnson tells House Republicans Trump wants them to pass a single reconciliation bill
At a closed-door House Republican retreat Saturday morning, newly re-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said President-elect Donald Trump was in favor of passing a single reconciliation bill that would address his priorities, including border security, energy and an extension of his signature 2017 tax law, two sources with direct knowledge told NBC News.
At a closed-door House Republican retreat Saturday morning, newly re-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said President-elect Donald Trump was in favor of passing a single reconciliation bill that would address his priorities, including border security, energy and an extension of his signature 2017 tax law, two sources with direct knowledge told NBC News.
Since the November election, when Republicans took back control of the White House and the Senate and retained control of the House, GOP lawmakers have publicly debated whether to attempt to pass one or two reconciliation bills to advance their agenda.
Reconciliation allows Congress to pass party-line policies related to taxes and spending with simple majority votes, suspending the Senate’s usual 60-vote threshold needed to pass legislation.
With a razor-thin House Republican majority and a four-seat GOP Senate majority, Republican lawmakers would still have little wiggle room to lose GOP votes, even when passing laws using reconciliation.
Johnson’s revelation that Trump is in favor of a single reconciliation bill is important because some in the president-elect’s orbit, including those who will be involved in negotiating any package like his immigration policy adviser Stephen Miller, have been pushing Republicans for two separate reconciliation bills: one tackling immigration and the other focusing on Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which will expire later this year.
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