As Republicans and Democrats prepare to battle each other for control of the House and Senate, they are also scrambling to pass legislative priorities that require working together — a tall order after months of bitter infighting.

Before members depart for a Memorial Day recess, the House GOP majority will try this week to ram through a party-line immigration enforcement package but also attempt to pass bipartisan housing affordability legislation and a bill that would revamp college athletics regulations.

Senate Republicans, when not moving the filibuster-skirting immigration bill through their own chamber, are also expected to be conferring with Democratic counterparts on bipartisan deals around a companion college athletics proposal and a framework for overhauling the federal permitting process for energy projects. There’s continued discussion on how to resolve differences on legislation that would fundamentally change how digital assets are regulated after the so-called Clarity Act advanced out of the Senate Banking Committee last week following House passage last summer.

And Rep. Jason Smith of House Ways and Means and Sen. Mike Lee of Senate Energy and Natural Resources, two of the most notoriously partisan committee chairs, struck conciliatory tones in recent days about their desire to work with Democrats on a framework for the taxation of cryptocurrency and streamlining energy permitting, respectively.

There’s also a desire for collaboration not just between the parties but between Republican-led chambers, too — a sentiment GOP senators shared with Speaker Mike Johnson last week when he crossed the Capitol to attend the Senate Republicans’ weekly closed-door luncheon.

“Let’s be working on things” was the message Senate Republicans conveyed to Johnson, according to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “Progress on things like that are good.”

Johnson, in an interview later, called the meeting “a great visit” where “we talked about how the two chambers can and should work closely together. We’re committed to that.”

Interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers revealed a genuine interest in making progress on long-stalled measures in the few short months before the home stretch of midterm campaigning begins. Members of both parties also see passing legislation as critical to combating a narrative with voters that Capitol Hill is mired in all-time political dysfunction and lack of productivity.

“I believe in bipartisan work,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). “But it has been my experience that the closer you get to an election, the harder it is to get that kind of work done.”

Despite the happy talk amid the rapidly closing window for legislative action, however, real challenges and a lack of trust remain. The latest curve ball: President Donald Trump’s social media post over the weekend proposing Republicans wedge a partisan election security bill into the pending housing affordability package or a reauthorization of a key spy authority.

Even before that demand, however, Johnson — who often finds himself trying to cater to his most conservative members to move bills on the House floor — wasthreatening to blow up bipartisan and bicameral negotiations on the housing bill, which the GOP sees as central to its midterm message on lowering costs for everyday Americans. The speaker has said he plans to put the measure on the floor this week and allow his members to vote on policy changes Senate Republicans and the White House warn they can’t accept.

Johnson is also negotiating changes to the college athletics bill known as the SCORE Act. That’s to appease hard-liners who have issues with provisions in the bill relating to scholarships for international students, among other things. Already, some tweaks were made to woo Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a former holdout.

“We don’t know the status of the overall bill. It really just depends on what Speaker Chip Roy says we can do,” quipped Rep. Shomari Figures of Alabama, one of the Democrats who has been working on the legislation that would set new standards for how college athletes are paid.

Trump has made it clear he wants to see passage of the SCORE Act, saying in recent months he’ll use his executive authority to enforce a set of rules surrounding eligibility, transfers and compensation in college sports that aim to protect college athletes.

Lawmakers also said in interviews this week that there are bipartisan talks underway about a reauthorization of a landmark public lands package known as the Great American Outdoors Act, a regulatory framework governing the use of artificial intelligenceand a bill to boost American manufacturing.

Smith, of Missouri, told attendeesof a tax conference Thursday that the Ways and Means panel can “do things on health care, trade and tax from a bipartisan perspective, and I intend to do that in the next few months.”

Lee, of Utah, in a recent interview said there was “a lot of shared interest” in a permitting deal and that lawmakers are exchanging drafts with hopes of releasing bill text in the coming weeks.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), meanwhile, emphasized there’s also a list of must-pass bills that can’t be ignored. That includes the government funding bills, the farm bill and a surface transportation bill.

The House passed its first appropriations bill last week to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs in an encouraging 400-15 vote, but other funding bills won’t be so easy. It also passed its version of the farm bill earlier in the month alongside a separate measure to allow year-round sales of a gasoline blend known as E15, which a Senate GOP aide last week called a “nonstarter.”

“All of them have to be done,” Lankford said. “This is not a ‘pick your favorite child.’ … Whatever we can get on first and get going, we need to get going on it.”

Mia McCarthy and Brian Faler contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump’s hopes of using public funding to secure his proposed White House ballroom are under threat after a Senate official said Saturday a $1 billion Secret Service line item could not be included in a GOP immigration enforcement bill as drafted.

Elizabeth MacDonough, the chamber’s parliamentarian, ruled that the language aimed at enhancing Secret Service security measures would need to be reworked if Republicans want to pass the larger bill along party lines as planned, according to a statement from Budget Committee Democrats.

MacDonough, the Democrats said, struck the entire Secret Service provision because it included funding that fell outside of the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee, which included the language in their portion of the immigration enforcement bill. The administration estimated that approximately $220 million of the $1 billion would go toward the White House construction project.

“While we expect Republicans to change this bill to appease Trump, Democrats are prepared to challenge any change to this bill,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the top Budget Committee Democrat, said in a statement Saturday. “We cannot let Republicans waste our national treasure on a mission of chaos and corruption while turning a blind eye to the needs of the American people.”

It’s a setback for Senate GOP leaders, who had voiced confidence they would be able to get the blessing of the chamber’s rulekeeper. But Republicans said Friday they are already working to redraft the language, which will need to be resubmitted for MacDonough’s approval.

“Technical adjustments are a standard part of the budget reconciliation process. Revisions and conversations with the parliamentarian are ongoing to ensure the text is fully Byrd compliant,” Judiciary Committee Republicans said Friday on X.

Some Republicans believed she might object only to the specific references to the East Wing Modernization Project or to a restriction against using the funding for “non-security” purposes while keeping the $1 billion otherwise intact. Others had warned the entire proposal could fall and held off on taking a position for or against the funding until MacDonough ruled.

GOP leaders have already faced pushback from members in both chambers, with some senators already discussing possible changes to the request as they waited to see how MacDonough would rule. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a Thursday interview that leaders were “hearing members out” and the conversations were about “how do we get 50 votes in the Senate for something.”

Republicans will need to move quickly to regroup or they risk missing Trump’s self-imposed June 1 deadline to get a bill to his desk. Senate Republicans are aiming to pass the bill no later than Friday, sending it to the House before a weeklong recess.

MacDonough’s decision on the ballroom-related language comes after she ruled Thursday against four other parts of the immigration enforcement bill, which will provide tens of billions in new funding for agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump is taking up another strategy to pass his signature SAVE America Act: attaching it to other must-pass bipartisan legislation on housing and government surveillance powers.

If combined, the SAVE America Act — which he has called the “No. 1 priority” to pass ahead of the midterms — would almost certainly undermine the broader bills’ chances of getting through Congress.

To the president, it may be a risk worth taking.

“We cannot, as a Country, put up with this any longer!!!” he wrote on Truth Social Saturday. “Voter I.D., and Proof of Citizenship, must be approved, NOW. Crooked Mail-In Voting must be stopped!!! PUT IT ALL IN THE HOUSING AND FISA BILLS.”

The SAVE America Act would institute new voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements for federal elections while also banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports, among other provisions.

Meanwhile, House Republican leaders are planning to call a vote next week on the bipartisan housing bill, broadly similar to the White House-endorsed version that passed the Senate in March. And lawmakers have spent months negotiating a long-term reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a rule that allows the government to collect the communications of foreigners living abroad but often includes Americans’ data.

Lawmakers are working against a June 12 deadline to pass an extension, after approving a temporary six-week reprieve for the program in late April.

Bipartisan collaboration is necessary for both bills. And Republicans have little hope of securing the necessary votes from Democrats if Trump’s favored legislation enters the fray.

But the president has long advocated for passing the SAVE America Act, even at the expense of the rest of his party’s congressional agenda. Voters, by contrast, have mixed feelings, according to an April POLITICO Poll.

“It will guarantee the midterms,” he said in March. “If you don’t get it, big trouble, my opinion.”