WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump met behind closed doors Wednesday night to discuss how to implement sweeping changes to immigration, energy and tax policies, although they appeared to make no significant progress.
Republicans want to apply the complicated budget reconciliation process to pass legislation without relying on Democrats’ votes in the Senate, where a 60-vote filibuster typically forces bipartisanship. But the GOP has yet to agree on whether to combine its proposals into one vast package or two bills, a necessary decision to begin the multi-stage effort.
Leaders also haven’t figured out exactly what changes they’ll need to make, an undertaking that will likely require months of talks between centrist and far-right members of the party, nearly all of whom will have to support the final version if it is to get through Congress.
Trump said after the meeting that there was “great unity” among Republicans, despite mighty disagreements between the House and Senate over whether to try to pass all the policies in one bill or split them into two packages.
“Whether it’s one bill or two bills, it’s going to get done one way or another. I think there’s a lot of talk about two and a lot of talk about one, but it doesn’t matter. The end result is the same,” Trump said. “We’re going to accomplish something that’s going to be cutting taxes and creating a lot of jobs and all the other things you know.”
One or two bills?
GOP senators leaving the two-hour meeting at the Capitol said no final decisions had been made but that GOP leaders would continue to talk.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said lawmakers in that chamber “are united on (Trump’s) agenda, which is to secure the border, rebuild the military, energy dominance for this country “To create, strengthen the economy … and prevent and prevent a huge tax increase if we don’t act to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts.”
Thune declined to say whether Republican senators had managed to convince Trump to support their two-bill strategy.
“We all agree on achieving the outcome, and the process arguments we have here are certainly less important to people across the country than achieving the things I just mentioned,” Thune said.
But he said there is “great interest” among Senate Republicans in seeing border, national security and energy legislation move quickly.
“It’s an ongoing conversation, but at the end of the day we all want the same outcome and that’s what we’re going to focus on,” Thune said.
Budget resolution required
The budget reconciliation process requires the House and Senate to pass a budget resolution with voting instructions before they can bring the actual voting bill to the floor.
That means House and Senate GOP leaders will sooner or later have to agree on which committees will receive reconciliation instructions and what those instructions will contain.
Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said no final decisions were made during the session, but Republican senators had made a case for Trump to implement the policy changes in two different bills.
“He has heard from us and from our leader that the two-bill strategy is very much alive here and that we are still very interested in it,” she said.
Capito, who moderated the conversation and chaired the session, said she was able to “get the president’s ear” on some points to discuss policy, but did not elaborate on what exactly she pushed him to do could have.
Capito said she expects Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to meet with Trump at some point to make a final decision on one or two bills.
A “fun” meeting
Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt said the border and energy are two of the top policy priorities, but did not go into detail about what exactly would change on those two issues.
Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said the meeting with Trump was “fun” and that Republicans had the opportunity to ask the modern president questions.
“There is so much energy,” she said, adding that she would prefer two bills rather than one for reconciliation.
Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, the leading Republican on the bipartisan border security law that Trump signed finally refueled in 2024 said that during the meeting, Trump expressed his intention for the White House to work closely with Congress.
Lankford added that Trump is “really open” to different reconciliation strategies.
“I think with two bills you get things done quicker,” he said. “And we can start implementing more quickly instead of waiting until May or June to try to get something done.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma said Republican senators are leaning toward two reconciliation bills, “but at the same time, leader Thune made it very clear that he will do what the president asks of us.”
Last updated on January 8, 2025 at 9:18 p.m
