Speaker Mike Johnson led a cross-section of House Republicans for a trip down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House on Wednesday, where they’re huddling with President Donald Trump to chew over their strategy to advance the president’s ambitious agenda.
“This is part of the process…the America First Agenda. We look forward to furthering that discussion. So, it’s going to be a good meeting,” Johnson, R-La., said before emphasizing the leadership is “working on a one-bill strategy.”
It’s not just elected House GOP leadership attending the meeting, as both conservatives and moderates are expected to join the discussion. Asked about the meeting’s goal, Johnson told reporters that the objective is “to move the ball forward.”
“I think we will,” he said. “We’re at a good place.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters while the meeting was going on that Trump had laid out his tax priorities for the group, most of which he had promised during the presidential campaign: not tax on tips, Social Security or overtime pay; renewing his 2017 tax cuts; adjusting the cap on state and local taxes; eliminating tax breaks for professional sports team owners; closing the carried interest tax deduction loophole; and tax cuts for products made in the U.S.
“This will be the largest tax cut in history for middle class, working Americans,” she said. “The President is committed to working with Congress to get this done.”
Republicans must pass a budget resolution to unlock a complex process to enact sweeping reforms to taxes, energy, border security and more. But Johnson currently has just a one-vote cushion to pass legislation through the lower chamber, so Republican leaders are cognizant that even a pair of dissenting Republicans could doom their collective efforts.
“We’ve got to work very meticulously with our members to first make sure we have the votes to get a budget passed,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Wednesday. “We can’t have 22 [Republicans] opposing. We can’t have four opposing. And so we’re working through a lot more detail now on what reconciliation would look like on the front end before we actually get the budget passed.”
Leaving the Capitol Wednesday morning, Scalise boasted that he’s “very confident” Republicans will reach consensus on a budget plan — though he admitted that the meeting today is a “critical step” in the process.
Scalise also raised concerns about the Senate’s evolving approach, which could punt tax reform to a second attempt to overhaul the budget late this year. The No. 2 House Republican explained that delaying tax reform in 2017 undercut the anticipated economic growth at the time.
“You didn’t really get the bounce because it took so long to get the second bill done,” Scalise said. “The President remembers that. You know, it’s one of the reasons we lost the majority. And so do you want to repeat that history, or do you want to do it earlier? You get the benefits earlier, and increase the likelihood that you actually get tax [reform], because the question of whether or not you can even pass a second bill is a real, real, serious concern.”
Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told senators during a closed-door lunch on Wednesday that the Senate will take the reins and begin work to advance its own package next week.
Senate Republicans plan to discuss their two-bill approach with Trump at Mar-A-Lago on Friday.
ABC News: Top Stories
Read the full article .
