House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has called for passing the GOP’s agenda through one big reconciliation bill as President-elect Donald Trump prefers.
WASHINGTON—The House Freedom Caucus has called for a two-step approach to pass President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda through reconciliation, setting up a possible fight with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Reconciliation is a mechanism that allows legislation related to taxing, spending, and the national debt to pass through Congress while avoiding the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate that must be cleared in advancing most bills.
The Freedom Caucus plan, released on Jan. 16, calls for increasing the debt ceiling by $4 trillion while getting that amount in savings over a two-year period. This increase would be contingent on a promise from House GOP leadership to deliver “dollar-for-dollar savings over 10 years across both reconciliation bills and appropriations bills.”
“We’re socializing that among members,” Johnson said at an event hosted by Politico. “I’m not really wed to that, it was the initial idea. So we’ll see, we’ll see how it develops.”
Another aspect of the proposal is spending between $200 billion and $300 billion over four years on national security measures including defense and border security.
The caucus proposed cuts of at least between $361 billion and $541 billion over a decade.
These cuts include, but are not limited to, repealing the Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandate, repealing funding for the IRS allocated under the administration, repealing student loan forgiveness, instituting work requirements for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and imposing fees and ending benefits for illegal immigrants.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Johnson’s office for comment on the caucus’s proposal.
In a statement, the conservative group said that this plan can get the necessary 218 votes for passage in the House.
“We would quickly fund border security, modernize the U.S. military, cut spending by reversing some of the worst Biden policies, rightsize federal agencies and programs, and increase the debt ceiling for two years, while legitimately bending the spending curve down for the first time in decades,” it said.
The caucus also said it is willing to negotiate.
“We stand ready to consider any proposal, and to work with colleagues on their specific issues and negotiate in good faith on spending cuts necessary to make reconciliation actually result in deficit reduction, be it one bill or two,” it said.
“But we must not waste a single legislative day—and the rapid adoption of an approach such as this would accomplish many of our most important objectives quickly,” they continued. “The American people do not want to wait.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) also said he prefers two reconciliation bills.
Reuters contributed to this report.
