Congress
Vance, Miller and Vought backing two-bill reconciliation strategy; Bessent pushing one
Vice President JD Vance, White House policy chief Stephen Miller and budget chief Russ Vought are among those in the Trump administration pushing for a two-bill approach on reconciliation, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pushing for one, people familiar with their thinking, granted anonymity to share it, said Wednesday.
Two of those familiar confirmed Vance and Miller’s positions, which prioritize quickly passing immigration-related funding and dealing with tax cuts in separate legislation later, while one of those and a third person confirmed Vought also supports the strategy.
Congressional Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process to bypass Senate filibusters and more quickly enact President Donald Trump’s agenda, including tax cuts and additional funding for border security and defense.
Vought and immigration czar Tom Homan were on Blue Light News Tuesday pushing the Senate to move quickly to approve the border funding, which Senate Republicans interpreted to mean their two-bill strategy has President Donald Trump’s blessing.
“It’s just going to take a long time to get the big, beautiful bill done,” one of the people said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bessent, meanwhile, is pushing Trump’s “one, big beautiful bill” strategy, according to two people familiar with the discussions, the position House Speaker Mike Johnson is advocating. Johnson believes he needs border, energy and taxes all in one package to pass it through the House GOP’s narrow majority.
While Trump has voiced support for the one-bill approach, he has left the door open to two, if that’s the best way to move the policy through Congress.
The Senate Budget Committee began marking up its budget resolution Wednesday morning, with Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) framing the move as a backup plan if House Republicans fail to move swiftly on their own proposal. The Senate plan allows for a $150 billion increase in defense spending and would boost border security funding by $175 billion, which administration officials view as a key priority.
House Republicans, meanwhile, released their one-bill fiscal blueprint in advance of a Thursday morning markup.
Senate Budget Committee Republicans will meet Tuesday morning to talk about advancing a fiscal blueprint for a new party-line spending bill.
Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) declined to say , in an interview Monday if he plans to introduce a resolution this week, noting that he was “working with leadership” and that the “first priority” is to pass a stopgap spending bill. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a panel member, said he didn’t expect the Senate to take up a budget resolution this week because “I don’t think my leadership wants to do it.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t ruled out taking up a budget resolution but has been frank about the challenges it faces among GOP senators.
The Senate’s stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown on Oct. 1 has cleared the first procedural hurdle, putting it on track for passage before lawmakers leave for the August recess.
Senators voted 89-4 to advance the measure, which would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions.
In order for a passage vote to happen ahead of the summer break, Senate leaders will need to strike a bipartisan time agreement to fast-track the measure to a final vote.
“It is a strong bipartisan piece of legislation, and I hope it will receive overwhelming support from both parties in the Senate,” Majority Leader John Thune said in a Monday floor speech.
Senate passage would up a potential battle with the House, because the stopgap measure the House passed two weeks ago has key differences from the Senate version. Identical versions must be passed to actually avert a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year.
The Senate measure includes language to bar the Trump administration from putting into action a plan to make political appointees in charge of approving grants, a prohibition that would last for the length of the stopgap. It also has language sought by Democrats to ensure Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement don’t get any new funding under the patch.
“The bill allows us to continue negotiating a budget that won’t leave working families behind,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday.
The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment about if President Donald Trump supports the Senate measure. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), an appropriator and administration ally, said Monday he had spoken to Trump earlier in the day and believed the president is “comfortable” with the Senate bill.
Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought criminal charges against President Donald Trump, has been invited to testify Sept. 22 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to an invitation from Chair Chuck Grassley reviewed by Blue Light News.
Smith previously testified before the House Judiciary Committee in January, but Grassley (R-Iowa) and his team have been probing Smith and his investigations for months.
Grassley recently revealed that Smith obtained text messages that 44 members of Congress sent to White House officials during the waning months of Trump’s first term leading up to and around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Grassley’s texts were among those accessed by Smith’s team, along with Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
“In the process of a deeply flawed, weaponized investigation, Jack Smith subpoenaed phone toll records from a dozen senators, scooped up text messages from over 40 members of Congress, and subpoenaed the private communications and financial records of hundreds of other Republican entities and individuals,” Grassley said in a statement.
“He needs to answer directly to Congress for his actions,” Grassley added. “Smith has requested to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and our committee looks forward to hearing from him as part of Congress’ investigation into Arctic Frost and his time as Special Counsel. Smith must be honest and forthcoming in his answers, because the American people deserve nothing less than full transparency and accountability.”
Lawyers for Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the January hearing, Republicans focused on technicalities of how Smith investigated the probe into Trump’s election interference, such as whether he properly signed his oath of office and whether he was sufficiently versed on the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause that protects members of Congress from criminal investigation for their lawmaking actions.
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