Johnson Pledges Trump-Aligned Agenda Will Reach President’s Desk By Memorial Day
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, is pressing forward with plans to deliver a significant portion of former President Donald Trump’s legislative goals by late May, according to reports released Saturday.
Fox News stated that Johnson and fellow GOP leaders are intensifying efforts to pass Trump's policy priorities by Memorial Day.
“More than a year ago, the House began discussing the components of a reconciliation package that will reduce the deficit, secure our border, keep taxes low for families and job creators, reestablish American energy dominance, restore peace through strength, and make government more efficient and accountable to the American people. We are now one step closer to achieving those goals,” Johnson and Republican leadership wrote in a message to House Republicans.
“Today, the Senate passed its version of the budget resolution. Next week, the House will consider the Senate amendment,” Johnson added.
The GOP is planning to use the budget reconciliation method to advance sweeping conservative legislation. Typically used when one party controls the presidency and both chambers of Congress, reconciliation allows legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority of 51 votes, bypassing the 60-vote threshold needed to break a filibuster.
Democrats previously utilized this strategy in 2010 to push through the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which revised the Affordable Care Act.
In the early hours of Saturday, the Senate passed a reconciliation framework featuring approximately $4 billion in proposed spending cuts.
Still, some conservative Republicans are opposing the measure, arguing it doesn’t go far enough.
“If the Senate’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ budget is put on the House floor, I will vote no,” Rep. Chip Roy of Texas declared on X.
“In the classic ways of Washington, the Senate’s budget presents a fantastic top-line message – that we should return spending back to the pre-COVID trajectory (modified for higher interest, Medicare, and Social Security) of $6.5 Trillion, rather than the current trajectory of over $7 Trillion – but has ZERO enforcement to achieve it, and plenty of signals it is designed purposefully NOT to achieve it,” he continued.
House Republican leaders emphasized that the Senate’s proposal doesn’t interfere with their own reconciliation efforts.
“The Senate amendment as passed makes NO CHANGES to the House reconciliation instructions that we voted for just weeks ago. Although the Senate chose to take a different approach on its instructions, the amended resolution in NO WAY prevents us from achieving our goals in the final reconciliation bill,” their letter read.
“We have and will continue to make it clear in all discussions with the Senate and the White House that—in order to secure House passage—the final reconciliation bill must include historic spending reductions while protecting essential programs,” they added.
“We have made it clear the House will NOT accept nor participate in an ‘us versus them’ process resulting in a take it or leave it proposition from the Senate,” the letter continued.
Despite internal disagreements, Johnson reaffirmed that the legislation would be finalized soon.
“Immediately following House adoption of the budget resolution, our House and Senate committees will begin preparing together their respective titles of the reconciliation bill to be marked up in the next work period,” the leaders wrote.
House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, a Texas Republican, described the Senate’s version as “unserious and disappointing,” but said he remains committed to collaborating with colleagues to improve the bill.
“I am committed to working with President Trump, House leadership, and my Senate counterparts to address these concerns and ensure the final reconciliation bill makes America safe, prosperous, and fiscally responsible again,” he stated.