House Republicans are racing to get ahead of their Senate counterparts on plans to pass sweeping conservative policy legislation and advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Plans to take the first step in the budget reconciliation process this week were scuttled in the House, with fiscal hawks pushing GOP leaders to raise their proposed floor for spending cuts after balking at an initial rough proposal presented last month at the House Republican issues retreat in Miami.
Meanwhile, the Senate is moving full steam ahead with their own plan to advance a budget resolution on Wednesday and Thursday. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., unveiled the upper chamber’s plan on Friday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters that same day that he was hopeful the House Budget Committee would take up the lower chamber’s resolution on Tuesday.
SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN
A plan to leapfrog House Republicans on the reconciliation process was unveiled to senators on Wednesday. (Reuters)
“We’ve got a few more people we’ve got to talk with and a couple of more boxes to check, but we are almost there,” Johnson said. “The expectation is that we will be marking up a budget next week, potentially as early as Tuesday, the resolution. That will, of course, begin the process and unlock the whole reconciliation process, which I think we can wrap up in a short amount of time.”
Two House GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital on Friday that the plan would call for a minimum of $2 trillion to $2.5 trillion in spending cuts over a period of 10 years.
Republicans plan to use their majorities in the House and Senate to pass a wide swath of Trump policy initiatives, from extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to funneling more cash to operations at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The budget reconciliation process makes that possible by lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to a simple 51-seat majority. Because…
