Newly reelected Speaker Mike Johnson told House Republicans during a closed-door policy retreat on Saturday that President-elect Donald Trump wants Congress to pass one sweeping bill full of his priorities through the budget reconciliation process, multiple sources told ABC News.
Johnson said Trump wants to pass “one big, beautiful bill,” according to sources.
Rep. Mike Johnson reacts after being re-elected as Speaker of the House on the first day of the 119th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 3, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
House Republicans are meeting privately at Fort McNair to map their legislative strategy under Trump’s presidency for taxes, the border and energy, among other policy areas.
Trump’s desire to have one bill instead of two is a break from what Senate Majority Leader John Thune has laid out as his plan, which includes two separate packages, multiple outlets have reported.
With a trifecta in the House, the Senate and the White House, Republicans will have the ability to attempt to implement major policy changes without any Democratic support using a procedural tool called budget reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority of votes to pass the chamber. But the razor-thin GOP majority in the House means a reconciliation package will also be a major challenge to pass.
The House Freedom Caucus has endorsed a two-step plan rather than Trump’s single bill, and the group of hard-liners may stand in the way of Trump’s desires. On Friday, several members of the House Freedom Caucus nearly stopped Johnson from getting selected as speaker on the first round, though most of them ultimately voted for Johnson to allow him to obtain the 218 votes needed to be elected. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie was the only House Republican who didn’t vote for Johnson.
Rep. Andy Harris, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, joins a group of conservative Republicans to speak about the interim spending bill being crafted to avoid a shutdown of federal agencies, at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 18, 2024.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Legislation passed via budget reconciliation, which would allow the Senate to avert the 60-vote threshold from the filibuster, would need consensus among House Republicans with their majority of 219 Republicans to 215 Democrats. If they wish to pass legislation without any Democratic support, they can only have one GOP defection if all members of the House are present. The single bill Trump favors through reconciliation would put the GOP caucus to the test.
“There are a group of us who support breaking it up into two pieces,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris said on Saturday during a Fox News interview. “The first piece, a very small border piece where we give the president the money that he needs to secure our southern border and start deporting illegal, criminal aliens.”
Source: abc news
