DORAL, Fla. — House Republicans have their work cut out for them in the coming weeks, with three fiscal deadlines looming and President Donald Trump pushing for a very active first 100 days of his administration.
Congressional GOP leaders are working on a massive conservative policy overhaul via the reconciliation process. By lowering the threshold for passage in the Senate from 60 votes to a simple 51-seat majority, it allows the party in power to advance their policy goals into law, provided those policies deal with budgetary and other fiscal matters.
‘We want to deliver on all the things that President Trump talked about during the campaign… including no tax on tips, which was one of those early items that the president talked about, but also ensuring no tax increases happen. We can fully fund our border security needs, making sure we build the wall out, that we give more technology and tools to our Border Patrol agents,’ House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.
‘We can produce more energy in America… try to get rid of some of these crazy rules and regulations that add so much cost for no good reason to families.’
Scalise said it would be ‘much more robust’ than Republicans’ last reconciliation bill passed in 2017 – the last time the GOP controlled Congress and the White House.
His optimism comes as congressional Republicans still appear divided over how best to enact their plans. Senate Republicans and some GOP hardliners in the House have argued that trying to pass a bill with border and energy policies first would give Trump a quick win, while allowing more time for more complex issues like taxes.
But House leaders are concerned that, given Republicans last passed two reconciliation bills in one year in the 1990s with much larger majorities, the two-track strategy could allow Trump’s 2017 provisions to expire and raise taxes on millions of families.
‘You have to start somewhere. We’re starting with one package,’ Scalise said. ‘No disagreement on the details of what we’re going to include.’
Meanwhile, lawmakers are also contending with the debt ceiling being reinstated this month after it was temporarily suspended in a bipartisan deal during the Biden administration. At least one projection suggests Congress will have until mid-June or earlier to deal with it or risk financial turmoil that comes with a downgrade in the U.S.’s national credit rating.
And coming on March 14 is the deadline to avert a partial government shutdown, which Congress has extended twice since the end of the previous fiscal year on Oct. 1.
The No. 2 House Republican floated the possibility of combining those latter two deadlines.
‘The Appropriations Committee, which is not directly involved in budget reconciliation, is simultaneously having a negotiation with the Senate on government funding, you know, working with the White House to make sure it meets President Trump’s priorities,’ Scalise said.
‘I would imagine the debt ceiling could very well be a part of that conversation in that negotiation.’
Scalise spoke with Fox News Digital at the House GOP’s annual retreat, held this year at Trump’s golf club in Doral, Florida.
Lawmakers huddled behind closed doors for three days to hash out a roadmap for grappling with their multiple deadlines and enacting Trump’s agenda.
They also heard from the president himself, as well as Vice President JD Vance.
Trump has on multiple occasions called on Republicans to act on the debt limit to avoid a U.S. credit default. Vance told Republicans on Tuesday that Trump wanted them to do so without giving leverage to Democrats – a weighty task given some GOP hardliners’ opposition to raising or suspending the limit over the U.S.’s $36 trillion national debt.
House GOP leaders can currently only afford one defection to still pass a bill along party lines.
They’ve been forced to seek Democratic support on government funding multiple times, including most recently in December.
With no topline agreement reached and roughly 19 days in session before the March 14 deadline to avert a partial government shutdown, it’s becoming increasingly likely that congressional leaders will have to combine all 12 annual appropriations bills into one massive ‘omnibus,’ a move also generally opposed by GOP hardliners.
‘I think we’re getting closer,’ Scalise said of a topline number for fiscal year 2025 spending. ‘The House and Senate were apart by a pretty sizable amount of money. They’re trying to negotiate that down to get a resolution.’
