House Republicans discussed plans for a second party-line megabill during their policy retreat in Florida this past week, and now GOP senators want in on the action.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), in her capacity as head of the Senate DOGE Caucus, sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson and House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) outlining what she says are $93.5 billion in savings that could be incorporated into a filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation bill.

“Republicans should seize every opportunity to advance policies that lower prices, cut taxes, and lift burdensome regulations off the backs of American families while we hold the White House and majorities in both chambers of Congress,” Ernst wrote in the letter, shared first with Blue Light News. “This moment will not last forever.”

Her list includes proposals to claw back unspent COVID-era funds; rescind more of former President Joe Biden’s climate initiatives; impose stiffer penalties for states with high rates of inaccurate SNAP food aid payments; implement a new $250 fee for new electric vehicle owners; and create more accountability for government charge cards.

“This is not an exhaustive list, and I stand ready to help you pass another transformational reconciliation bill,” Ernst said.

The DOGE Caucus, created to mirror the work of the now largely defunct Department of Government Efficiency formerly led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, has little tangible power on Capitol Hill. But Ernst’s appeal signals the extent to which jockeying among Republicans has begun as discussions accelerate around a second megabill — even if there’s scant evidence congressional Republicans can pull one off.

Johnson told House Republicans in a closed-door session closing out the retreat Wednesday that he remains intent on pursuing a new reconciliation package to follow on last year’s “big beautiful bill” focused largely on tax cuts. The legislation could theoretically tackle some cost-of-living issues, but the speaker didn’t offer any specific policies that would be incorporated or a timeline for advancing it, according to four people in the room granted anonymity to describe the private meeting.

Some senior Republicans present privately warned they don’t have much time left for such a big legislative lift, and their razor-thin and frequently fractious House majority could make it difficult to find necessary consensus around a final legislative product.

The Senate is on track to easily pass a housing affordability package Thursday that is dead in the House as is — an ominous sign for any GOP affordability measures.

The bipartisan package, aimed at lowering high housing costs, is expected to sail through the Senate after an 89-9-1 procedural vote earlier this week. But the bill’s ultimate fate remains dire — as does the GOP trifecta’s ability to make any legislative progress on affordability before the midterms.

— House issues: Freedom Caucus members warned they won’t support the Senate version of the bill, with several likening some of its provisions to “socialism.” Their key concerns include a temporary ban on a central bank digital currency (they want it to be permanent) and a ban on institutional investors from owning single-family homes.

“There are problems,” Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) said. “It’s not as conservative a product as the House bill was.” The House passed its own version in February under a fast-tracked process with Democratic support.

Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged conservative objections to the Senate’s housing bill during a closed-door, conference-wide meeting Wednesday at the House GOP retreat. He suggested the House and Senate would have to go into conference negotiations to iron out the problems, according to four people in the room.

Rep. Mike Flood, chair of the Financial Services Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, echoed that sentiment.

“I am holding out hope for some fixes, but time runs short,” the Nebraska Republican told Blue Light News in a statement.

— The Senate’s game plan: Senators are moving ahead with their version — and largely ignoring the House-passed one.

Many don’t support the community banking provisions in the House version. The Senate version also includes the institutional investor provision that President Donald Trump requested.

“I don’t think we’ll need a conference. I think we’ll get it worked out,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said.

For now, senators appear to believe the White House — including the president — will help get House GOP colleagues on board. To their credit, they’ve seen this movie many times before.

“If one side, Senate or House is being unreasonable, the White House may have to slap a couple of people to Pluto,” Kennedy said. “But we’re not there yet.”

DORAL, Fla. — House Republicans arrived at their yearly policy retreat aiming to craft a 2026 agenda that will help them keep their majority in the upcoming midterms. But they left with few specifics on what more they can do before the election to quell voter angst about higher prices.

Speaker Mike Johnson told GOP members in a private session Wednesday closing out the retreat that he remains intent on pursuing a new party-line domestic policy bill to follow on last year’s tax-cuts-focused megabill.

While that legislation could theoretically tackle some cost-of-living issues, Johnson didn’t offer any specific policies that would be included or a timeline for passing it, according to four people in the room granted anonymity to describe the private meeting. Some senior Republicans present at the meetings privately warned they don’t have much time left for such a big legislative lift.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, said he awaited party leaders’ ideas for a second megabill, which would be passed through the party line reconciliation process. But he was candid about the GOP’s limited legislative options before November.

“The bottom line is that inflation is stable, gas prices are going to come down once the Iran conflict is over, we’ll deal with housing in some way,” he said. “I mean, the American people will see the stability in inflation. They’ll see the stability in energy and gas prices. And, you know, that’s probably all we’re going to be able to do before the midterms.”

The GOP’s inability to coalesce behind an election year economic agenda is being driven in no small part by President Donald Trump, who opened the retreat by telling House Republicans their “No. 1 priority” should be passing an GOP overhaul of federal elections, with new restrictions on transgender rights tacked on.

Trump all but dismissed the affordability issue, noting at one point that Americans “don’t talk about housing, they don’t talk about anything” except for the SAVE America Act — the elections bill he’s pushing the House to pass a third time.

Asked about the divide between voters’ top priority and the president’s, Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan said, “I don’t think it’s an ‘or.’ I think it’s an ‘and.’”

“When you look at economic issues, that is really what is important to a lot of Americans,” said McClain, the No. 4 Republican leader. “It’s pocketbook issues, right? So it’s an ‘and’ not an ‘or.’”

Trump’s obsession with the elections bill — and Johnson’s determination to pursue a reconciliation bill despite long odds — leaving Republicans with a tough task in addressing rising prices on everyday goods, which remain an issue of top concern to voters.

Even the new pressure on energy prices from Trump’s decision to join Israel in launching a war on Iran has yet to spur GOP lawmakers into action. Most, like Harris, simply asserted oil prices would come down soon enough.

Pressed on affordability issues, Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) raised the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, noting it’s “disrupting travel” and “people’s lives,” as he also made the case for the Trump-backed elections bill.

“Especially coming into the election, the SAVE America Act is a top priority, as well,” he said. “But … pocketbook issues are what drives people to the polls. So we need to do both at once, focus on affordability, but focus on the integrity of the election.”

The chair of the House GOP campaign committee, Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, tried to square the two demands as he left the retreat Wednesday. Like other leaders, he raised last year’s tax cuts and other bills the Republican-controlled Congress passed last year, arguing candidates have “lots of wins to talk about.”

“Our entire focus as House Republicans is on average, everyday American working families,” Hudson said in an interview. “We’ve delivered tax relief, a lot of other things they care about — school choice, upgraded the air traffic control system.”

Asked if there’s more Republicans could do to lower prices, Hudson said, “Sure.”

“Lots of other things we’d like to do,” he added. “We just have to figure out if we’ve got the votes.”

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) was among several lawmakers who pointed to pending housing legislation as a major opportunity to address rising prices in a key sector.

“I think there’s a program there that we can certainly advance,” Cole said in an interview, mentioning the possibility of energy and transportation bills as well.

But the housing bill is facing a rocky path out of Congress, despite broad bipartisan support. While a version is expected to pass the Senate as soon as this week, it now faces hurdles in the House after Harris and other members of the Freedom Caucus raised objections to provisions dealing with the ownership of single-family homes by large companies and a possible Federal Reserve digital currency.

Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), for instance, said in an interview that “socialist policies” would have to be stripped out of the bill. Several invoked the involvement of progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, who helped negotiate a Senate compromise.

“It’s not as conservative a product as the House bill was,” Harris said.