Republicans scramble for solutions on Trump legislative agenda after punting vote

House Republicans are scrambling to find a solution to internal disagreements over their plan to pass President Trump’s sprawling agenda, an effort that kicked into high gear after leadership was forced to punt a key vote this week — and as the Senate inches closer to moving ahead with its alternative plan.

During a late-night meeting in the Capitol Tuesday night, lawmakers — including hardline conservatives, moderates and members of leadership — discussed potentially moving a five-year reconciliation package, to advance Trump’s agenda, three sources told The Hill, floating an abridged piece of legislation as the conference remains at odds over spending cuts.

Throughout the budget reconciliation process Republicans have been operating under the assumption that the package full of Trump’s priorities — which include expensive tax extensions and exemptions — would last for 10 years. Shortening that timeframe would drastically lower the projected cost of the proposal in scoring.

A reduction in the overall price tag could help gin up support among hardline conservatives, many of whom are demanding that the package be deficit neutral — a goal that would be more attainable with a lower cost. But it would also shorten the lifespan of the extended tax cuts, a fact that could frustrate some members. Trump has said he wants to make the tax cuts permanent.

One source said that leadership plans to present the five-year idea to lawmakers during their House GOP conference meeting Wednesday morning, though it remains unclear if it would muster enough support in the slim majority.

Johnson did not take a position on the five-year idea, another source said.

A diverse group of lawmakers were present for the meeting, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), House GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore (R-Utah) and Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), David Valadao (R-Calif.), Ben Cline (R-Va.) and Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), according to one of the sources.

While the viability of the five-year framework remains an open question, the fact that it was floated at all underscores the immense pressure House Republicans are under to move forward on a budget resolution that will include Trump priorities on tax, border enforcement, energy, and more — but will require near unanimity in the razor-thin GOP majority to advance.

The special budget reconciliation process will allow Republicans to circumvent the 60-vote threshold in the Senate and move the bill without needing support from Democrats.

GOP leaders had aimed to complete a blueprint at their Florida retreat last week and take an initial step to mark up the budget resolution in committee this week, but those seeking steep cuts derailed that plan by balking at an initial budget resolution proposal that featured a $500 billion tax cut floor. While leaders saw that as simply a starting point, fiscal hawks wanted commitments for much higher levels of cuts, with some seeking overall cuts of $2 trillion to $5 trillion.

Though Johnson earlier on Tuesday had said that movement on the resolution in committee might still be possible, Scalise left the meeting saying Republicans would not be able to move on the markup this week.

“No,” Scalise succinctly responded when asked if House Republicans could mark up a budget resolution this week.

“That’s what we’re focused on,” when pressed on if the key vote could happen next week.

Scalise said that Republicans had raised the floor for cuts from what leaders presented at the House GOP retreat last week, which included ranges of cuts that each committee was tasked to come up with to offset the cost of priorities in the bill. 

“We have gone back to each committee to increase those numbers,” Scalise said, signaling that $1 trillion in cuts was realistic.

But the tricky part is making sure the numbers are right — and that the votes are still there.

Scalise that there will now be more “front-loading” of the work that leaders had initially expected would take place weeks from now in order to get agreement on the first step in the budget resolution.

“Right now we're doing is getting a lot more into the details of what the committees would have been doing in March, but we're doing it now in the context of putting together the budget,” Scalise said. “The Budget Committee wants to be comfortable with numbers that they vote on to give the committees, and they weren't. So we're reworking it, but we're reworking it by also working with the committees to make sure they can pass those —  those numbers.

Reacting to the struggles on the House side, Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is set to brief senators on Wednesday about moving first on a budget resolution for an initial, skinny bill that would address border security, energy and defense. That measure would later be followed by a package extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts.

“We do have a bill ready to go here and Sen. Graham is going to be briefing the conference on that tomorrow at lunch,” Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso (Wyo.) told reporters on Tuesday.

Fear of a Senate alternative appears to be firing up House Republicans to try to find a solution to their internal conflict.

“They’re worried about the Senate jamming them on a bill from the Senate, and the Senate would be a light one, it wouldn’t include the tax extension,” one source said when discussing the Tuesday night House Republican meeting.

Johnson earlier on Tuesday insisted that the House will be spearheading the Trump agenda bill and shut down the idea of the Senate moving first.

“The Senate will not take the lead,” Johnson said earlier on Tuesday. “We’ll take the lead. We’re right on schedule.”