Speaker Mike Johnson is falling behind in the congressional GOP budget reconciliation race.
Johnson’s hopes of moving a budget resolution through committee this week to jumpstart his one-big-bill plan — a necessary step to enact President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda — could get derailed by an intra-party battle.
Budget Chair Jodey Arrington and committee member Chip Royare at odds with Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith and other senior Republicans on how to proceed. The budget hawks are pushing for additional and highly controversial spending cuts. They’re also looking to put a strict limit in the budget resolution on how much the reconciliation bill can increase the deficit, a move that could severely limit Smith’s aspirations for a tax overhaul.
The number that lawmakers had tentatively settled on last Thursday — around $4.7 trillion — would make it virtually impossible to implement anything above an extension of the expiring tax cuts.
Johnson insisted in an interview on Fox News Sunday that the House Budget Committee will take up the bill this week, but left himself some wiggle room: “We might push it a little bit further because the details really matter.”
Over in the Senate, Budget Chair Lindsey Graham already has text out for his chamber’s budget resolution, a huge step for Senate Republicans eager to move forward with their two-track plan. The first bill would encompass the border, energy and defense, while a second would tackle more complicated tax policies. The committee will meet over two days to mark up the resolution, with a vote expected Thursday.
Both House and Senate leaders competed for Trump’s ear this weekend as they pushed their competing plans. Trump’s Super Bowl suite looked like the latest round of reconciliation discussions: guests included Johnson and Majority Whip Tom Emmer from the House side, and Graham and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso from the Senate.
Johnson acknowledged Graham is moving quicker in the Fox interview, but added: “I have about 170 additional personalities to deal with and he’s only got 53.”
What else we’re watching:
- Nominations: The Senate will vote to end debate on Tulsi Gabbard today as director of national intelligence Monday evening. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary is also expected to come up later this week.
- CRA expansion: The House Rules Committee is looking to advance a bill Monday that would allow lawmakers to more easily roll back federal rules under the Congressional Review Act — packaging multiple CRAs into one bill rather than passing each individually.
- Spending drama: Sen. Andy Kim suggested that Democrats may not help Republicans pass a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown on March 14, if that becomes necessary. Funding negotiations got testy last week — with less than five weeks before the deadline, look out for more developments here.
