Congress

Capitol agenda: Battle of the budgets coming next week

Published

6 hours ago

February 7, 2025

Next week is shaping up to be a battle of the budgets.

House Republicans spent hours Thursday reworking their one-bill plan in two separate meetings — one at the White House, with some limited involvement from President Donald Trump. But despite Speaker Mike Johnson’s stated intentions to unveil a framework today, he told reporters late Thursday night that House Republicans would be working on it all weekend.

GOP leadership is starting to tell some members that full details won’t be available until Monday. Majority Leader Steve Scalise said after the late-night meeting they still hadn’t agreed on a topline.

On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham has indicated he’s ready to start moving on his two-bill plan next week. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said Thursday that Graham “is ready to go” — and Sen. Rick Scott said that his fellow Budget Committee members should “absolutely” move forward as planned.

GOP senators will descend on Mar-a-Lago tonight, where they’ll talk to Trump about their two-bill approach. Johnson suggested he will run his plans by the president a bit later, smiling as he told reporters that Republicans will continue working “on Saturday and Sunday at the Super Bowl” — both Johnson and Trump are attending.

Scalise and Budget Chair Jodey Arrington reiterated their goal to get the plan through Arrington’s panel next week. Johnson said Thursday night there were working out “a couple final details” but that “Tuesday’s the target” for committee action. Arrington suggested it may be later in the week.

Negotiators are aiming to include a permanent extension of the 2017 tax cuts. To keep the package budget-neutral — as it is expected to be labeled — they are eyeing as much as $2 trillion in spending cuts. They expect some other proposed tax changes won’t be permanent.

Asked if the final bill will hit the budget-neutral goal, Johnson said: “It should, that’s the plan.”

What else we’re watching:

Johnson-Netanyahu meeting: The speaker is scheduled to meet with the Israeli prime minister at 10 a.m., after Johnson had to cancel a photo opportunity Thursday due to the Republican gathering at the White House.
Spending split: Top Senate appropriator Susan Collins told reporters Thursday that she and her House counterpart, Tom Cole, are continuing to trade topline government funding proposals with Democrats. She added, “I would not say that we are close.” The government shutdown deadline is March 14.
Nominations: Democratic senators are trying to slow down confirmation votes on Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary; they forced extra procedural votes Thursday before Thune moved to end debate on their nominations. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman said he’d oppose both afterward, but no Republicans have indicated publicly they would vote against either one.

Nicholas Wu and Ben Leonard contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate Republicans release budget blueprint ahead of Wednesday markup

Published

2 hours ago

February 7, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Republicans will hold a committee vote next week on a budget blueprint that will unlock their two-bill strategy for enacting the heart of President Donald Trump’s domestic policy agenda.

Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced Friday that his panel will meet Wednesday and Thursday to debate and vote on the budget resolution, which paves the way for a border, defense and energy bill. Graham also released the text of his budget resolution Friday.

“This budget resolution jumpstarts a process that will give President Trump’s team the money they need to secure the border and deport criminals, and make America strong and more energy independent,” Graham said in a statement Friday about the budget resolution.

The formal announcement comes after Graham told Senate Republicans during a closed-door lunch Wednesday that his committee would vote next week on their budget blueprint. Senate Republicans will be at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night for a celebratory dinner with Trump where they intend to ask him about whether their chamber should move first on the budget reconciliation legislation.

The Senate is effectively in a race with the House, which wants to pursue one sweeping bill that would also fold in an overhaul of the tax code. House Republicans have been struggling to get on the same page regarding their strategy, which delayed their plans to consider their own budget resolution this week inside the House Budget Committee.

But after around-the-clock meetings this week, Republicans are intending to work through the weekend and want to have a vote in committee next week on their own budget blueprint, which would tie together tax, energy, border and defense spending.

Congress

House Dems physically denied entry to Education Department building

Published

2 hours ago

February 7, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

House Dems physically denied entry to Education Department building

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Congress

Mike Johnson says Democrats ‘unresponsive’ ahead of shutdown deadline

Published

4 hours ago

February 7, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Friday morning that Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries “seemed to be trying to set up some sort of a government shutdown.”

“We have been negotiating in good faith, trying to get a top-line number. But so far as I know, they’ve been unresponsive the past two days or so,” Johnson said.

The speaker weighed in as anxieties are spiking about the coming March 14 deadline for extending government funding. Democrats have grown wary about cutting a deal with Republicans as President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk move swiftly to unilaterally cut agency funding

Top appropriators have been negotiating in recent weeks about a top-line spending number — a necessary first step toward passing funding for the remainder of fiscal 2025. The chair of the House Appropriations Committee, in fact, said Thursday night — contra Johnson — that those talks are ongoing.

“We are actively exchanging proposals,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said. “You know, we are exchanging things back and forth.”

The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (R-Conn.), said much the same Friday after Johnson spoke: “The speaker is mistaken. No one has walked away from the table. We sent them an offer yesterday. He should give Chairman Cole a call for a status update.”