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Trump budget bill standoff fuels tension in House GOP as leaders press forward

The House and Senate are headed for a collision course on federal budget talks as each chamber hopes to advance its own respective proposals by the end of Thursday.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Tuesday that the House Budget Committee would take up a resolution for a massive bill to advance President Donald Trump's agenda later this week. The panel then scheduled its meeting on the matter for 10 a.m. ET on Thursday.Β 

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, resolved to push forward with their own legislation after the House GOP missed its self-imposed deadline to kick-start the process last week.Β 

And while the two chambers agree broadly on what they want to pass via reconciliation, they differ significantly on how to get those goals over the finish line.Β 

BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF 'PURGE' OF 'MINORITY' FEDERAL WORKERS

"What's the alternative, the Senate version?" Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said when asked if House Republicans could come to an agreement. "When has the Senate ever given us anything conservative?"

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, caught some members of the Republican conference by surprise at their closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning when he announced to the room that his panel would be advancing a reconciliation resolution, two lawmakers told Fox News Digital.

House and Senate Republicans are aiming to use their congressional majorities to pass a massive conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process.

By reducing the Senate's threshold for passage from two-thirds to a simple majority, where the House already operates, Republicans will be able to enact Trump's plans while entirely skirting Democratic opposition, provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters.

GOP lawmakers want to include a wide swath of Trump's priorities, from more funding for border security to eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages.

House Republicans' plans to advance the bill through committee last week were scuttled after fiscal hawks balked at initial proposals for baseline reductions in government spending – frustrating rank-and-file lawmakers.

"This is a mechanism that needs to happen that some people are getting hung up on," one exasperated House GOP lawmaker said. "Some people are acting as if this – you know, I appreciate they're taking this seriously, but this is just getting the clock started."

More recent proposals traded by the House GOP would put that minimum total anywhere between roughly $1 trillion and $2.5 trillion.

Meanwhile, the Senate's proposal is projected to be deficit-neutral, according to a press release. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hopes to advance it by the end of Thursday.

Johnson told reporters Tuesday that bill would be dead on arrival in the House.

"I'm afraid it's a nonstarter over here. And, you know, I've expressed that to him. And there is no animus or daylight between us. We all are trying to get to the same achievable objectives. And there's just, you know, different ideas on how to get there," the speaker said.

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

Tensions are growing, however, with Johnson's critics beginning to blame his leadership for the lack of a definitive roadmap.

"We're totally getting jammed by the Senate. Leaders lead, and they don't wait to get jammed," Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital. "If I had somebody who was arguing with me about a top-line number, and if I was speaker, they wouldn't be in that position anymore."

"And I would figure out a way to be resourceful working with the conference and working lines of communication, as opposed to hiding everything and then being three weeks late on the top-line number."

Johnson told reporters that details of a plan could be public as soon as Tuesday night.

The Senate's plan differs from the House's goal in that it would separate Trump's priorities into two separate bills – including funding for border security and national defense in one bill, while leaving Trump's desired tax cut extensions for a second portion.

House GOP leaders are concerned that leaving tax cuts for a second bill could leave Republicans with precious little time to reckon with them before the existing provisions expire at the end of this year.

GOP rebels mutiny against House leaders as Trump budget bill talks hit impasse

The hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus has released its own proposal to enact President Donald Trump's agenda via the budget reconciliation process.

The plan would pair a debt ceiling increase and increased border security funding with deep spending cuts through welfare work requirements and rollbacks on progressive Biden administration initiatives.

It's a sign that House GOP leaders have still not found consensus within the conference on a path forward, despite ambitious plans to get a bill through the chamber at the end of the month.

House and Senate Republicans are aiming to use their congressional majorities to pass a massive conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process.

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

By reducing the Senate's threshold for passage from one-third to a simple majority, where the House already operates, Republicans will be able to enact Trump's plans while entirely skirting Democratic opposition, provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters.

GOP lawmakers want to include a wide swath of Trump priorities from more funding for border security to eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages.

But fiscal hawks have also demanded the package be deficit-neutral or deficit-reducing. Congressional leaders can afford little dissent with their razor-thin majorities and guaranteed lack of Democratic support.

The Freedom Caucus's plan would follow through on conservatives' pleas for deep spending cuts, pairing $200 billion in annual new spending for the border and national defense with $486 billion in spending cuts for the same 10-year period.

It would also include a $4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling, something Trump demanded be part of Republicans' fiscal negotiations.

Spending cuts would be found in codifying rollbacks to the Biden administration's electric vehicle mandates and imposing Clinton administration-era work requirements for certain federal benefits, among other measures.

The legislation leaves out one critical component of Trump's reconciliation goals – the extension of his 2017-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

House GOP leaders and Republicans on the Ways & Means Committee had pushed for them to be included alongside border security, debt ceiling, defense and energy measures in one massive reconciliation bill.Β 

They argued that leaving them for a second bill, which the House Freedom Caucus plan would do, will allow Trump's tax cuts to expire at the end of this year before Congress has time to act.

The two-track approach is also favored by Senate Republicans, who are moving forward with their own plan this week.

Conservatives on the House Budget Committee pushed back against GOP leaders' initial proposals for baseline spending cuts to offset new spending in the reconciliation plan, forcing the House to punt on plans to advance a resolution through the House Budget Committee last week.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., later announced plans to advance his own proposal through his committee by Thursday.

BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF 'PURGE' OF 'MINORITY' FEDERAL WORKERS

""The biggest loser this weekend wasn't at the Super Bowl, but rather the American people," Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. "The clock is ticking, and we are no closer to a budget deal, which is why the House Freedom Caucus released our Emergency Border Control Resolution Budget to secure our border and address Trump's America First Agenda."

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., said in a statement, "Given the current delay in the House on moving a comprehensive reconciliation bill, moving a smaller targeted bill now makes the most sense to deliver a win for the President and the American people."

Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, said, "The American people voted for Donald Trump to see action – not for Congress to sit on its hands while our short window to pass his America-First agenda closes."

Supporters of the two-bill approach have said it would secure early wins on issues Republicans agree most on while leaving more complex matters like tax cuts for the latter half of the year.

Senate moves full steam ahead on massive Trump budget bill after GOP divisions derail House

Senate Republicans are moving full steam ahead with their plans for a massive conservative policy overhaul through the budget reconciliation process, despite House GOP leaders still insisting their chamber is set to go first.Β 

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., unveiled a 61-page resolution that would fund President Donald Trump's priorities for border security, fossil fuel energy and national defense.

It would fund completion of Trump's border wall, as well as provide dollars for more beds in detention centers at the border. The bill would also include funds to hire more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, hire more personnel patrolling the border and increase the number of immigration judges in order to process the backlog of existing asylum cases.

On energy, the bill is aimed at ramping up offshore drilling leases and stopping the Biden administration's methane emissions fee.

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

The legislation would also fund increased military readiness, grow the U.S. Navy and build an "integrated air and missile defense to counter threats," according to a summary provided by Graham's office.

Graham also signaled the bill would be deficit-neutral, with his press release stating that its $342 billion in new spending will be offset by the same amount of money in savings.

Per the Senate's plan to split Trump's reconciliation priorities into two bills, it is expected that extensions to Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – as well as other key Trump proposals, such as eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages – will be in a second plan released at a later date.

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 the House already operates on a simple majority threshold, it will allow Republicans to skirt Democratic opposition to pass their agenda – provided the measures included involve budgetary or other fiscal matters, as reconciliation rules call for.

The first step in reconciliation is advancing a resolution through the House and Senate budget committees, which will then give instructions to other committees of jurisdiction that will eventually form a final bill.

The Senate's plan differs significantly from the House's intended approach.

While both sides agree on what should be passed via reconciliation, House GOP leaders and Republicans on the Ways & Means Committee are concerned that the intense political maneuvering the process takes will mean they run out of time before passing a second bill with Trump's tax cuts at the end of this year.

BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF 'PURGE' OF 'MINORITY' FEDERAL WORKERS

A Ways & Means Committee memo sent earlier this year projected the average American household could see taxes rise by over 20% if those provisions expire at the end of 2025.

Trump himself has repeatedly called for "one big, beautiful bill" but said he ultimately was not concerned about the packaging as long as all of his priorities were passed.

House Republicans had intended to move one bill through their budget panel this week, but the process was stalled as spending hawks pushed for deeper funding cuts than what GOP leaders initially proposed.

Conservatives have insisted that any plan Republicans pass must be deficit-reducing or deficit-neutral.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters on Friday morning that he was playing "phone tag" with Graham due to their schedules but signaled he still intended for the House to move ahead with their plan next week.

"I sent him a text message early this morning and explained where we are in the process and how it's moving aggressively," Johnson said.

He told reporters he hoped for a House Budget Committee markup of the bill as early as Tuesday.Β 

Graham, meanwhile, intends to advance his bill through committee on Wednesday and Thursday.

Senate Republicans are meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night.

Fox News' Daniel Scully contributed to this report.

House Republicans clear path for Trump to act on tariff plans

House Republicans are unveiling a new bill to clear a path for President Donald Trump to enact his sweeping tariff plans.

First-term Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., is reintroducing the U.S. Reciprocal Trade Act on Friday, which, if passed, would allow Trump to unilaterally make moves on import taxes from both adversaries and allies.

He would be required to notify Congress, however, which could file a joint resolution of disapproval against the moves.

"American manufacturing has endured decades of decline under the globalist system that has hollowed out our industrial base and shipped countless jobs overseas. Leaders in both political parties deserve blame. But those days are over," Moore said in a statement.

TRUMP CONFRONTS BANK OF AMERICA CEO FOR NOT TAKING 'CONSERVATIVE BUSINESS'

Moore said Trump was "the first national politician in my lifetime to recognize this problem, campaign on it, and work to reverse that trend."

"With the U.S. Reciprocal Trade Act, we’ll give the executive the leverage necessary to go to bat for the American people and achieve tariff reductions on U.S. goods," he said.

Trump released a campaign video in 2023 pledging to work with Congress to pass the Reciprocal Trade Act, declaring, "Under the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act, other countries will have two choicesβ€”they’ll get rid of their tariffs on us, or they will pay us hundreds of billions of dollars, and the United States will make an absolute FORTUNE."

TRUMP'S PROPOSED TARIFFS ON MEXICO, CANADA, CHINA WILL INCREASE INFLATION, GOLDMAN SACHS WARNS

This week, the president announced that he wanted to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese imports, making good on a campaign promise to use such taxes to lower the U.S. national debt, which is currently over $36 trillion.

"We're talking about a tariff of 10% on China, based on the fact that they're sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada," Trump said Tuesday. "Probably February 1st is the date we're looking at."Β 

During his campaign, Trump promised to levy a 60% tariff on goods from China and as much as 20% on other countries the U.S. trades with.

He also recently pledged on Truth Social to create an "External Revenue Service" to "collect our Tariffs, Duties, and all Revenue that come from Foreign sources."

Trump has praised the U.S. Reciprocal Trade Act by name multiple times, including during a January 2019 meeting with House Republicans, including the bill's former lead, ex-Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis. Trump recently nominated Duffy to be secretary of Transportation.

"The United States Reciprocal Trade Act β€” this legislation will help, finally, to give our workers a fair and level playing field against other countries.Β Countries are taking advantage of us, whether they think we’re very nice or not so smart.Β  They’ve been doing it for many, many years, and we want to end it," Trump said at the time.

However, not everyone is in agreement that tariffs are an effective way to bolster the U.S. economy, with some economists warning it would only raise costs for consumers.

"Not only would widespread tariffs drive up costs at home and likely send our economy into recession, but they would likely lead to significant retaliation, hurting American workers, farmers, and businesses," Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said while unveiling a measure to block Trump from using unilateral tariff powers by declaring a trade emergency.

DOGE caucus roadmap for cutting government waste emerges after closed-door meeting: 'great synergy'

The Congressional DOGE Caucus’ plans for cutting government waste are shifting into focus after the group’s second-ever closed-door meeting on Wednesday.

Caucus leaders are splitting lawmakers into eight working groups focused on different sectors for waste-cutting. Those will focus on retirement, social and family safety nets, emergency supplemental funding, energy permitting, homeland security, defense and veterans, the workforce, and government operations, according to a document viewed by Fox News Digital.

Co-chairs Aaron Bean, R-Fla., and Pete Sessions, R-Texas, challenged lawmakers in the room to introduce at least one bill related to government efficiency in the 119th Congress.

REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE'S MUSK, RAMASWAMY

Both told Fox News Digital that it was just one of the coordinated efforts the caucus is planning as it seeks to be the legislative support for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) being co-led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

"We’reΒ going to aim for a day where we will drop pieces of legislation, a day where we will go on the floor and speak to the American people," Sessions told Fox News Digital.

Bean expounded on the idea, labeling it "DOGE Days."

"We're going to have a day where we hopefully can draw up 20, 30 bills and all the DOGE members come forward, boom, we're on them," Bean said. "We're going to have great team work and great synergy and momentum."

They asked attendees to fill out a survey, a copy of which was obtained by Fox News Digital, designating which working groups they would like to be a part of.Β 

DANIEL PENNY TO BE TAPPED FOR CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL BY HOUSE GOP LAWMAKER

During the closed-door meeting, lawmakers took turns to discuss their own ideas for cutting government waste as well.

Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., called for a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the federal budget.

And Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., suggested cutting off child tax credit eligibility for illegal immigrants.

"Currently, we’re not nearly careful enough… where illegal aliens are getting a child tax credit, childcare tax credit. That's ridiculous. You know, so those are my point was those are the easy things to do, the low-hanging fruit," Van Drew told Fox News Digital when asked about his meeting comments.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is leading the DOGE effort on the Senate side and also attended the Wednesday House meeting, urged lawmakers there to work with their counterparts in the upper chamber on bicameral bills.

Lawmakers have been enthusiastic about the goals laid out by Musk and Ramaswamy’s new panel. Commissioned by President-elect Trump, the group is an advisory panel aimed at recommending where the executive branch can cut government waste.

The DOGE Caucus is a bid to make Trump’s cost-cutting initiatives permanent through legislation.

The group opened and email tip line which Bean and Sessions said has already received over 15,000 emails.

Bean said he was surprised but pleased at the enthusiasm.

Sessions added, "I've gotten probably 200 letters here that were really typed out, and some were written, that said, β€˜Thank you for doing this. I'd like you to hear from me.’ And this is an acknowledgement back to the American people who have skin in the game also."

Johnson reveals Trump's wishes on delivering huge policy overhaul in closed-door meeting

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Republican lawmakers on Saturday that President-elect Trump supports a conservative policy overhaul via a single large bill, three sources told Fox News Digital.

Trump wants both the House and Senate to have such a bill on his desk by May, the sources said. The president-elect's buy-in will likely end the growing intraparty friction on how to pass Republican goals next year via a process known as "reconciliation," which lawmakers plan to use to pass conservative policy and budget changes.

House Republicans met behind closed doors in Washington's Fort McNair on Saturday to discuss the plan.

JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS 'DISHONEST'

Reconciliation allows the Senate to bypass its traditional 60-vote threshold in favor of a simple majority, provided the legislation is focused on budgetary and other fiscal matters.

Both parties have traditionally used reconciliation to pass broad policy changes in a single bill. But the legislation also goes through a strict assessment where the Senate parliamentarian is tasked with deciding what is and is not relevant to U.S. fiscal matters.Β 

Notably, Democrats previously tried to use reconciliation to pass mass amnesty measures, but they were blocked.

Republicans might face similar issues with their push to add border security provisions to the bill. They're also aiming to use it to extend Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, as well as to pass measures on energy and defense.

The apparent decision by Johnson on Saturday comes after Congressional Republicans were at odds over whether to pass one or two reconciliation bills.

It is a process normally used once per year, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., floated a plan last month to split Republicans' priorities into two bills – one dealing with the border and defense and a second aimed at preserving Trump's tax policy.Β 

REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE'S MUSK, RAMASWAMY

The plan was also backed by top Trump adviser Stephen Miller.

But that push angered Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, who warned that two reconciliation bills could be too big a lift, and putting taxes second could imperil remaining GOP tax provisions that are set to expire at the end of this year.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., pointed out on Fox Business Network's' "Mornings With Maria" that Congress has not passed two reconciliation bills into law in one year since 1997.

"I am saying we need a reconciliation bill that has border, energy, permitting and tax. You put all four of those things together, we can deliver on that," Smith said.

Ways and Means Committee member Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., did not go into specifics about what was said at the meeting but called it "an informative and productive day where we exchanged ideas, priorities and procedure to accomplish our legislative goals of securing our borders, deporting cartels and criminals, saving trafficked children, restoring energy dominance, reducing bureaucracy and wasteful spending and building upon President Trump’s historic tax cuts."

"We are united and ready to deliver for Americans in what will be a momentous year for Congress and the country," Malliotakis told Fox News Digital.

The panel put out a memo last month warning that everyday Americans could see their taxes rise by 22% if Trump's tax policies expire.

But other lawmakers bristled at the idea that two bills were impossible.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital last month, "I think we need to prove to the American people that we can actually defend our borders. The bottom line is, I think they need to be on almost parallel tracks. But I do believe that taxes are much more complicated."

Fox News Digital reached out to Thune and Smith's offices for comment. Thune's office responded and declined to comment, and Smith's office did not immediately respond.

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