{"id":5983,"date":"2025-02-10T13:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T13:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-johnson-falls-behind-in-budget-race-gabbard-and-rfk-jr-coming-up\/"},"modified":"2025-02-10T13:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T13:04:07","slug":"capitol-agenda-johnson-falls-behind-in-budget-race-gabbard-and-rfk-jr-coming-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-johnson-falls-behind-in-budget-race-gabbard-and-rfk-jr-coming-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Johnson falls behind in budget race, Gabbard and RFK Jr. coming up"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Speaker Mike Johnson is falling behind in the congressional GOP budget reconciliation race.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s hopes of moving a budget resolution through committee this week to jumpstart his one-big-bill plan \u2014 a necessary step to enact President Donald Trump\u2019s domestic agenda \u2014 could get derailed by an intra-party battle.<\/p>\n

Budget Chair Jodey Arrington and committee member Chip Royare at odds with<\/a> Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith and other senior Republicans on how to proceed. The budget hawks are pushing for additional and highly controversial spending cuts. They\u2019re also looking to put a strict limit in the budget resolution on how much the reconciliation bill can increase the deficit, a move that could severely limit Smith\u2019s aspirations for a tax overhaul.<\/p>\n

The number that lawmakers had tentatively settled on last Thursday \u2014 around $4.7 trillion \u2014 would make it virtually impossible to implement anything above an extension of the expiring tax cuts.<\/p>\n

Johnson insisted in an interview on Fox News Sunday that the House Budget Committee will take up the bill this week, but left himself some wiggle room: \u201cWe might push it a little bit further because the details really matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over in the Senate, Budget Chair Lindsey Graham already has text out for his chamber\u2019s budget resolution<\/u><\/a>, a huge step for Senate Republicans eager to move forward with their two-track plan. The first bill would encompass the border, energy and defense, while a second would tackle more complicated tax policies. The committee will meet over two days to mark up the resolution, with a vote expected Thursday.<\/p>\n

Both House and Senate leaders competed for Trump\u2019s ear this weekend as they pushed their competing plans. Trump\u2019s Super Bowl suite looked like the latest round of reconciliation discussions: guests included Johnson and Majority Whip Tom Emmer from the House side, and Graham and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso from the Senate.<\/p>\n

Johnson acknowledged Graham is moving quicker in the Fox interview, but added: \u201cI have about 170 additional personalities to deal with and he’s only got 53.\u201d<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:<\/b><\/p>\n