By LISA MASCARO, Associated Press Congressional Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is deep into drafting President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and beefed-up funding to halt migrants, but it’s “bumpy,” one Republican chairman says, with much work ahead to meet House Speaker Mike Johnson’s goal of passing the package out of his chamber by Memorial Day.
In fact, the tax cuts portion is still a work in progress. As are the reductions in Medicaid, food stamps and other mainstay government programs. Mostly, the Republicans, who have the majority in Congress, have made progress on parts that would increase spending, adding some $350 billion to the Pentagon and Homeland Security, including money for the U.S-Mexico border wall.
“There are some bumps in the road,” Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, the Republican chairman of the powerful Ways and Means tax-writing committee, acknowledged on “Fox News Sunday.”
All told, some 11 committees in the House are compiling their bills, and about half have finished up. They are being approved at the committee level by Republicans, on party-line votes, with Democrats opposed.
But some of the most-watched committees — Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce and Agriculture — have yet to act. Johnson himself acknowledged on Monday that his Memorial Day deadline may slip, but vowed “our timetable is on pace.”
Once all the committees are done, the different pieces of legislation will be rolled together at the Budget Committee into what Trump calls “one big, beautiful bill.”
If the House can pass the package, it next would go to the Senate, which is drafting its own version, for a final product by July 4.
Democrats say they will fight what House party leader Hakeem Jeffries calls the “extreme Republican agenda.”
Here’s a look at what’s in and out, so far.
Funding for 1 million migrant deportations, 20,000 new officers and the border wall
Two of the committees handling immigration- and border security-related matters have wrapped up their legislation.
Central to the Homeland Security Committee’s bill is $46.5 billion to revive construction of Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, with some 700 miles of “primary” wall, 900 miles of river barriers and more.
It would provide $4 billion to hire an additional 3,000 new Border Patrol agents as well as 5,000 new customs officers, and $2.1 billion for signing and retention bonuses.
All told, the Homeland Security Committee approved $69 billion in new spending.
At the same time, the Judiciary Committee, which handles interior immigration enforcement and legal proceedings, has also completed its $110 billion bill.
It would impose a $1,000 fee on migrants seeking asylum — something the nation has never done, putting it on par with few others, including Australia and Iran.
And there are more new fees proposed on various other legal paths to entry, including a $3,500 fee for those sponsoring unaccompanied children to enter the U.S., a $2,500 penalty if sponsors of unaccompanied children skip court appearances and a $1,000 fee for individuals paroled into the U.S.
Overall, the plan is to remove 1 million immigrants annually and house 100,000 people in detention centers. It calls for 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and investigators.
More money for the Pentagon and Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’
The House Armed Services Committee was tasked with drafting legislation with $100 billion in new spending. But they did that and more, passing a bill with $150 billion for the Defense Department and national security.
Among the highlights, it would provide $25 billion for Trump’s “Golden Dome for America,” a long-envisioned missile defense shield, $21 billion to restock the nation’s ammunition arsenal, $34 billion to expand the naval fleet with more shipbuilding and some $5 billion for border security.
It also includes $9 billion for servicemember quality of life-related issues, including housing, health care and special pay.
Overhaul of the student loan repayment plans
A wholesale revamping of the student loan program is the key to the Education and Workforce Committee’s legislation, with $330 billion in budget cuts and savings.
The proposal would replace all existing student loan repayment plans with just two: a standard option with monthly payments spread out over 10 to 25 years depending on the amount borrowed, and a “repayment assistance” plan with monthly payments based on a borrower’s income.
The new income-based plan is generally less generous than those it would replace. Minimum payments for the lowest-income borrowers would be higher, and forgiveness would be provided after 30 years of payments instead of 20 or 25. The new repayment plans would take hold in July 2026.
Among other changes, the bill would repeal Biden-era regulations that made it easier for borrowers to get loans canceled if their colleges defrauded them or closed suddenly.
Federal employee pension cuts
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform targeted federal workers’ pensions for a projected $50.9 billion in deficit savings over 10 years.
Most of the savings would come from requiring federal workers hired before 2014 to pay more into the retirement system. They would have to match the 4.4% salary rate paid by federal workers hired since 2014.
The committee also called for basing a retiree’s annuity payment on their average top five earning years instead of the top three. And the committee’s plan would eliminate a temporary, supplemental payment for newly retired federal workers who retire before they are eligible for Social Security.
Republicans argued that federal employee retirement benefits outpace those in the private sector. But critics, including Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, who voted against the committee’s package, said changing a worker’s pension during the middle of employment is wrong.
Democrats said the change would result in less take-home pay for many middle-class Americans in the federal workforce.
More drilling, mining on public lands
The House Natural Resources Committee is set to meet Tuesday to consider its bill, which largely matches Trump’s executive orders to open public lands and waters to more natural resource development.
It would allow increased leasing of public lands for drilling, mining and logging while clearing the path for more development by speeding up government approvals. Royalty rates paid by companies to extract oil, gas and coal would be cut, reversing former President Joe Biden’s attempts to curb fossil fuels to help address climate change.
Oil and gas royalty rates would drop from 16.7% on public lands and 18.75% offshore to a uniform 12.5%. Royalties for coal would drop from 12.5% to 7%.
The measure calls for four oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge over the next decade. It also seeks to boost the ailing coal industry with a mandate to make available for leasing 6,250 square miles of public lands — an area greater in size than Connecticut.
Republican supporters say the lost revenue would be offset by increased development. It’s uncertain if companies would have an appetite for leases given the industry’s precipitous decline in recent years as utilities switched to cleaner burning fuels and renewable energy.
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Collin Binkley in Washington and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed to this report.
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