Next week is shaping up to be a battle of the budgets.
House Republicans spent hours Thursday reworking their one-bill plan in two separate meetings — one at the White House, with some limited involvement from President Donald Trump. But despite Speaker Mike Johnson’s stated intentions to unveil a framework today, he told reporters late Thursday night that House Republicans would be working on it all weekend.
GOP leadership is starting to tell some members that full details won’t be available until Monday. Majority Leader Steve Scalise said after the late-night meeting they still hadn’t agreed on a topline.
On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham has indicated he’s ready to start moving on his two-bill plan next week. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said Thursday that Graham “is ready to go” — and Sen. Rick Scott said that his fellow Budget Committee members should “absolutely” move forward as planned.
GOP senators will descend on Mar-a-Lago tonight, where they’ll talk to Trump about their two-bill approach. Johnson suggested he will run his plans by the president a bit later, smiling as he told reporters that Republicans will continue working “on Saturday and Sunday at the Super Bowl” — both Johnson and Trump are attending.
Scalise and Budget Chair Jodey Arrington reiterated their goal to get the plan through Arrington’s panel next week. Johnson said Thursday night there were working out “a couple final details” but that “Tuesday’s the target” for committee action. Arrington suggested it may be later in the week.
Negotiators are aiming to include a permanent extension of the 2017 tax cuts. To keep the package budget-neutral — as it is expected to be labeled — they are eyeing as much as $2 trillion in spending cuts. They expect some other proposed tax changes won’t be permanent.
Asked if the final bill will hit the budget-neutral goal, Johnson said: “It should, that’s the plan.”
What else we’re watching:
- Johnson-Netanyahu meeting: The speaker is scheduled to meet with the Israeli prime minister at 10 a.m., after Johnson had to cancel a photo opportunity Thursday due to the Republican gathering at the White House.
- Spending split: Top Senate appropriator Susan Collins told reporters Thursday that she and her House counterpart, Tom Cole, are continuing to trade topline government funding proposals with Democrats. She added, “I would not say that we are close.” The government shutdown deadline is March 14.
- Nominations: Democratic senators are trying to slow down confirmation votes on Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary; they forced extra procedural votes Thursday before Thune moved to end debate on their nominations. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman said he’d oppose both afterward, but no Republicans have indicated publicly they would vote against either one.
Nicholas Wu and Ben Leonard contributed to this report.
