House Republicans are gathering at President Trump’s National Doral in Miami, Florida this week for their annual policy retreat, where they will golf, talk shop, and listen to Donald Trump deliver an expected address on Monday.
According to The Hill, House GOP leaders have already indicated that they’ll be discussing Trump’s legislative agenda – which includes an extension of his 2017 tax cuts, tackling inflation through energy policy, and securing the southern US border. Republicans are looking to try and move the agenda in a single bill through the budget reconciliation process vs. splitting it into two pieces as some Republicans had hoped for.
Reconciliation carries the threat of a Democratic filibuster in the Senate, but can be used only once or twice in a year – and will need near-unanimous support from GOP Senators. That said, balancing Trump’s agenda with demands from fiscal hawks that the legislation be neutral, or even reduce the deficit.
“We’ve got a math problem,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), a fiscal hawk who’s gunning for more than $2 trillion in cuts. “Let’s put the math on the board, and let’s go about it agency by agency.”
This week’s policy retreat, which starts Monday afternoon and ends Wednesday morning, is slated to have a number of meetings among members about what policies to include in the bill and how to offset their cost.
While members expect the final details will not be complete for weeks, Republicans will soon have to make a decision about the broad topline number expected in their proposal in order to tee up the legislative vehicle for the Trump agenda reconciliation bill. GOP leaders hope to pass that budget resolution by the end of February. –The Hill
Meanwhile, Republicans will need to come up with a game plan for the debt ceiling, which Trump has demanded they do without giving Democrats leverage.
That may prove more difficult than Trump envisions, as the aforementioned fiscal hawks want steep spending cuts that Democrats will lose their shit over, as they always do.
One idea being floated by Republicans is to include a debt limit increase in a package that would pair regular government funding and wildfire aid, in the hopes that the disaster relief would entice a sufficient number of Democrats to make up for GOP hardliner opposition.
That said, when asked on Thursday if Democrats could support a debt ceiling hike attached to wildfire aid for California, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said “It’s a nonstarter.”
Also last week, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told The Hill that the decision on how to handle the debt limit could be made at this week’s retreat.
“There are a number of ideas on the table we’re talking about,” said Johnson, when asked about addressing the debt limit via reconciliation or attaching it to wildfire aid. “We’re taking all the House Republicans to a big retreat early next week down in Florida, and we’ll finalize all those decisions.”
Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/27/2025 – 20:30
