Both the House and Senate must pass identical budget resolutions in order to unlock the reconciliation process.
WASHINGTON—The House GOP will begin its process of passing President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda through reconciliation the first week of February, said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Jan. 27.
Reconciliation allows for Congress to pass legislation related to spending, taxing, and the national debt without having to deal with the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold, which applies to most legislation.
“When we get back, the [House] Budget Committee will be marking up—first week of February is the plan—marking up the plan to set the resolution to begin and unlock and open the reconciliation process,” Johnson told reporters at the House GOP issues conference at Trump’s resort in Doral, Florida, outside Miami.
“That will be where the lion’s share of these campaign promises that we made are fulfilled.”
Both the House and Senate must pass identical budget resolutions in order to unlock the reconciliation process. The resolution includes what will be in the bill and how it will be paid for. While bills must be signed or vetoed by the president, budget resolutions do not.
Johnson said that during the issues conference, House Republicans will be in rooms negotiating and putting forth proposals on what the reconciliation bill should be so that they can hit the ground running upon returning to Washington next week.
Reconciliation was used to pass the 2017 Trump tax cuts and reform—which the GOP has promised to extend as the individual income tax brackets under it are set to expire after this year—and Obamacare, which the GOP failed to repeal in 2017 through the same mechanism.
The House GOP has said it would also use reconciliation to pass energy and border security measures. Raising the debt ceiling through the mechanism is a possibility, though Johnson has said he is not wedded to the idea of using reconciliation for that purpose.
Questions remain as to whether the agenda items will be in one big reconciliation bill or two. Trump has said his preference is one, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has called for two bills. Johnson wants one bill.
