A congressional dispute over President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda could be devolving into a “horse race” as Senate Republicans refuse to follow a House plan to pass everything in “one big, beautiful bill.”
Senate Republicans are settling on a two-bill path for now, with a quick victory on the border and then renewal of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts later in the year.
The approach flies in the face of Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) desire to combine the priorities, a decision guided by his narrow House majority. The one-bill approach also has the support of Trump, though he expressed openness to either strategy in a meeting with Senate Republicans on Wednesday night.
Senate Republicans predict a single bill is too unwieldy to negotiate and will stall out in the coming months. When that time comes, the reasoning goes, they want their legislation, which pairs defense spending with provisions on energy and the border, ready to go as a “fallback.”
“I think in the Senate, we’re going to move ahead with the plans that we think would meet the goals that we have,” said Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), a deputy whip on Sen. John Thune’s (R-SD) leadership team.
“Our committees have been working a long time on this already with the idea that if we do have the trifecta, we’d be able to move on it, and that’s what the Senate’s gonna do,” she added.
The House’s view is that border and energy are two deal sweeteners that need to be bundled with tax reform for there to be a chance of uniting Johnson’s conference.
There is not consensus on a so-called “dual track” approach, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) warning his Senate colleagues that walking out of step with the House is a “recipe for failure.”
He is personally “agnostic” on one bill versus two but noted that coordination is necessary to get a budget resolution passed through both chambers.
“We both have to agree, and the more we talk about one bill or two bills, I think we’re wasting our time,” Cornyn said.
Still, the dominant view within the Senate GOP conference is that committees can operate as though a border bill will move first and change course if House negotiations are promising.
Some members even believe the Senate should send the legislation to the House once it’s complete, though Thune told Politico no decision has been made on whether to hold a floor vote.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), the No. 4 Republican in Senate leadership, rejected the idea that her colleagues were preparing to “jam” the House.
“I wouldn’t say we’re going to move forward right now. That’s not the plan,” she said. “I think we’re getting our ducks in a row, I’ll put it that way.”
But the inability to resolve a standoff over what effectively amounts to a process matter foreshadows the difficult time Republicans will have getting Trump’s agenda through Congress.
Senators lobbied Trump on the two-bill approach at Wednesday’s meeting on Capitol Hill, but he reiterated his preference for one.
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At one point, senators discussed the idea of proceeding with a single bill but resorting to two if lawmakers reach an impasse. But Senate Republicans now seem more determined than ever to demonstrate the advantage of speed in pursuing a two-bill approach.
“I think we’ll be doing it, they’ll be working on it, and then as they come together, we’ll see who’s ahead in the process,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD).
Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this story.
