Top Republicans split over strategy to move Trump's 2025 agenda
Top Republicans are divided over the best strategy to advance border, tax, energy and other core components of President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda through reconciliation next year.
WASHINGTON — Top Republicans are divided over the best strategy to advance core components of President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda when the party gains a slim majority in Congress next year.
The new Congress will give Trump and Republicans the opportunity to pass major legislation without the need for any Democratic support under a process called "reconciliation." But whether the GOP will try to link all of its top priorities together in a single package early next year or split major issues across two, smaller bills is a major subject of debate among top Republican leaders.
The House’s top tax writer, Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., is warning fellow Republicans against breaking the agenda up into two bills, in which border security and energy policy would come in the first and an extension of Trump's 2017 tax cut law could come in the second.
Delaying the tax legislation risks jeopardizing it, Smith and his allies warn, so they want one sweeping package.
“My goal is to make sure we’re successful on making sure Trump’s tax cuts are made permanent and extended. That is my No. 1 focus. And I believe the best strategy to get that is to do one large bill,” Smith told reporters just off the House floor Tuesday.
Rating: 5