President-elect Donald Trump is willing to wait a few months for Congress to pass “one big, beautiful bill” encompassing the key tenets of his agenda, but whether lawmakers can get it done before his patience runs out is an open question.
Lawmakers began legislative preparations for a Republican trifecta in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress even before the November election, and have stepped up their efforts in the months since securing victory.
But a ton of policy work remains to flesh out the details of the agenda, which is focused on securing the border, restoring American energy dominance, cutting taxes and reining in spending.
“It’s going to be an exciting time here,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, told reporters Monday after Congress certified Mr. Trump’s electoral victory. “You’re going to see a lot of activity, and we’re very much ready and prepared to get that work done.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota also said “Republicans are ready to go” and will immediately begin working to deliver on Mr. Trump’s agenda.
But Mr. Thune and Mr. Johnson first need to decide on a singular strategy for advancing the agenda, or the Senate and House will begin the 119th Congress on a collision course.
The first few days since lawmakers were sworn in on Jan. 3 have already provided a chaotic window into Republicans’ struggles to get on the same page.
It started Friday when Mr. Johnson narrowly avoided defeat in a House vote to reelect him speaker. He had to convince two Republicans to flip their votes to prevent that outcome, assuring his conservative critics that he would deliver on Mr. Trump’s agenda and cut spending in the process.
While Mr. Johnson was in survival mode, Mr. Thune sat down for two interviews to air on Sunday’s political talk shows.
In the interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Mr. Thune talked about Senate Republicans’ preparations to pass a border-focused bill in the first few weeks of the new administration to provide billions in funding to support executive actions that Mr. Trump plans to take on day one of his presidency.
“We need physical barriers, we need technological barriers, we need more ICE agents, we need more Border Patrol agents and … ways of deporting people,” he said. “And so, it’s going to take some resources to do that.”
That’s why Mr. Thune said he has suggested Republicans in Congress take up border funding “right away.”
On Saturday, however, Mr. Johnson huddled with his conference at a retreat set up to work on their own legislative preparations. He announced that Mr. Trump preferred to take up the agenda in one big bill, to the relief of many House Republicans who believe that’s the best strategy for keeping together their paper-thin majority.
Mr. Johnson confirmed the strategy publicly the next day in an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” saying the goal is to get the giant bill through Congress by the end of April or “in a worst case scenario, Memorial Day.”
Later that evening, Mr. Trump posted his endorsement of the one-bill strategy on social media.
“Members of Congress are getting to work on one powerful Bill that will bring our Country back, and make it greater than ever before,” he said. “We must Secure our Border, Unleash American Energy, and Renew the Trump Tax Cuts, which were the largest in History, but we will make it even better - NO TAX ON TIPS. IT WILL ALL BE MADE UP WITH TARIFFS, AND MUCH MORE, FROM COUNTRIES THAT HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE U.S. FOR YEARS.”
Mr. Trump did not give Congress a deadline to pass the measure, but urged Republicans to unite quickly to deliver for the American people.
“Get smart, tough, and send the Bill to my desk to sign as soon as possible,” he said.
But on Monday morning Mr. Trump went on The Hugh Hewitt show and said that while his preference is “one big, beautiful bill,” he is not set on that approach.
“I would prefer one, but I will do whatever needs to be done to get it passed,” he said, noting he is open to the two-bill approach Senate Republicans favor but he views the one-bill strategy as “cleaner” and “nicer.”
Mr. Trump said he has a lot of respect for Mr. Thune, as well as other senators like Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, who prefer to do a border bill before the other, more complex pieces of the agenda like tax cuts.
“So I’m open to either way as long as we get something passed as quickly as possible,” Mr. Trump said.
He acknowledged the one-bill approach he favors will take longer but said, “I’d live with that.”
Republicans are planning to pass the legislation, whether it’s one bill or two, through the budget reconciliation process because it allows them to skirt the Senate filibuster. That means if their party remains united they would not need to work with Democrats to pass the big items on Mr. Trump’s agenda, which the minority party is likely to oppose.
But to get the reconciliation legislation passed without Democratic support means Republicans cannot lose any votes in the House, where they will soon have a zero-vote cushion after two members depart for the Trump administration.
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, can afford up to three defections as they can rely on Vice President-elect J.D. Vance to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Mr. Johnson said on Sunday that combining the disparate elements of the agenda together in a single package will make it easier “to pull everyone along” because there will be more to like than dislike.
On Monday, he acknowledged the strategy was still up in the air after Mr. Trump’s interview with Mr. Hewitt and said he has been in touch with Mr. Thune to hammer out “the most efficient and efficacious way” to pass the agenda.
“So I wouldn’t get too wound up about what the exact strategy is,” the speaker told reporters. “It’s the substance of the bills that matters.”
Mr. Johnson said there are good arguments for the two-bill strategy, including that it would allow Republicans “to put points on the board, so to speak, early in the year, and handle some of the border measures statutorily.”
“But there will be lots of executive order action on the border as well, and a lot of attention paid to that,” he said. “And we will be passing border legislation here one way or the other.”
For example, the House is set to vote this week on the Laken Riley Act, a bill named after a Georgia college nursing student who was murdered by a Venezuelan immigrant who had been paroled and released into the U.S. after illegally crossing the border.
The offender had been arrested for shoplifting prior to the murder but was released. The bill would require ICE to take custody of illegal aliens who commit theft. It also allows a state to sue the federal government if their citizens are harmed due to border laws not being enforced.
As for the funding to support Mr. Trump’s planned border executive actions, Mr. Johnson said Sunday that he’s had conversations with incoming administration officials who are looking at already appropriated money they can move around as soon as he takes office.
Mr. Trump confirmed that he can wait a bit for Congress to approve more funding.
“We don’t need it desperately, immediately,” he said.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.