US Republicans eye two-step Trump legislative agenda

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republicans within the U.S. Congress are discussing a two-step plan to push forward on President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda once they take management of each chambers subsequent yr, probably beginning with border safety, power and protection earlier than turning to tax cuts.

Incoming Senate Majority Chief John Thune, whose Republicans will maintain a 53-47 majority, laid out a plan in a closed-door occasion assembly on Tuesday that included a name from Trump himself. It goals to make use of a parliamentary maneuver to bypass the chamber’s “filibuster” rule that requires 60 senators to comply with advance most laws.

Based on the Senate plan, the primary invoice would deal with Trump’s agenda for border safety, power deregulation and protection spending, whereas the second would prolong tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act handed throughout the first Trump presidency, that are as a result of expire subsequent yr.

Thune advised reporters that the plan amounted to “choices, all of which our members are contemplating.”

To enact Trump’s agenda, the Senate must work carefully with the president-elect and the Home of Representatives, which is predicted to have a razor-thin Republican majority.

“We have been all the time planning on doing reconciliation in two packages. So we’re discussing proper now tips on how to allocate the assorted provisions, and we’re making these choices over the following couple of days,” stated Home Speaker Mike Johnson, who joined Senate Republicans at their assembly.

“There are totally different concepts on what to place within the first bundle and what within the second, and we’re making an attempt to construct consensus round these concepts,” Johnson advised reporters.

The speaker additionally stated that he believes Congress in coming weeks will pursue a unbroken decision, or CR, that may fund federal businesses into March. Present funding is about to run out on Dec. 20.

Earlier than shifting a primary reconciliation invoice, the Home and Senate might want to agree on a finances decision to unlock the “reconciliation” software they plan to make use of to bypass the filibuster. Aides stated senators hope to do this by the tip of January after which transfer shortly to finish the primary invoice by March 31.

“We’ve got the trifecta for 2 years. About 18 months is all we’re actually going to have to actually get issues completed,” Republican Senator Mike Rounds advised reporters.

Democrats additionally leaned closely on reconciliation to go laws once they held management of each chambers throughout the first two years of President Joe Biden’s time period.

Republican Senator Rand Paul, a fiscal hawk, raised considerations concerning the plan’s price.

“This isn’t a fiscally conservative notion,” Paul stated. “So at this level, I am not for it, until there are important spending cuts hooked up.”

Extending Trump’s tax cuts for people and small companies will add $4 trillion to the present $36 trillion in whole U.S. debt over 10 years.

Trump additionally promised voters beneficiant new tax breaks, together with ending taxes on Social Safety, extra time and tip revenue and restoring deductions for automotive mortgage curiosity.

The tab is more likely to attain $7.75 trillion above the CBO baseline over 10 years, in accordance with the Committee for a Accountable Federal Finances, a non-partisan fiscal watchdog group.