Republicans in the Senate and House (*100*) setting the table for what they hope — and increasingly expect — will be unified GOP control of the White House and Congress after the election.
Republican leaders in both chambers (*100*) laying out an agenda for Donald Trump’s first 100 days after returning to office, anticipating that he will quickly pass a massive budget reconciliation package that would fulfill his promise to cut taxes by trillions of dollars.
Staff members of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Senate Republican Leader John Thune (S.D.), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) recently met to discuss their agenda According to sources familiar with the discussions, Election Day in 2025 will be a major success for their party.
In addition, Johnson, who has said he plans to run for re-election as speaker if Republicans retain the House, has been in regular contact with Trump in the run-up to the election, and Scalise, another Trump ally, says he The Republican presidential candidate spoke to him about his top priorities for 2025.
Republican policymakers (*100*) considering funding a major modern border security initiative that would include completing Trump’s signature border wall and potentially defunding parts of the government that Trump allies say have been “weaponized” under the Biden administration.
But the top priority of Republican leaders in both chambers will be extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — Trump’s key legislative achievement — before it expires at the end of 2025.
How far they go beyond that will be the subject of intense debate among Republican lawmakers in the coming months, assuming Trump defeats Vice President Harris and Republicans regain control of the Senate and retain their majority in the House.
“The plotting, the strategizing and trying to prepare for it [budget] Reconciliation has been underway for several months,” said a Senate GOP aide. “During the August break and this October break, these efforts increased greatly.
“McConnell and Thune’s people have been driving the effort on our side,” the aide added.
“Many House committees have been working on this; some are more advanced than others,” the source added. “Efforts are underway. Everyone wants to be able to hit the ground running.”
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who is expected to become the modern Senate Republican leader in the next Congress, told The Hill that he has met with the leaders of Trump’s transition team, Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, to aid with the Election to aid put together a roadmap for Trump’s first 100 days.
“The transition team is better prepared. They are better staffed [than Trump’s team was after the 2016 election]and they are fully focused on getting out of the gates quickly,” he added.
Republican sources say McConnell, Thune and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the Republican-majority Senate Finance Committee chairman, (*100*) leading early discussions on the first major bill Republicans want to pass in 2025.
Thune, who is running to replace McConnell as GOP leader, was a key architect of the 2017 tax reform law. He is also a member of the Finance Committee.
He has led Republican efforts to eliminate the estate tax, reduce the tax burden on doctors, nurses and other professionals who cross state lines for work, and introduced bipartisan legislation this summer that would allow employers to pay their employees up to $5,250 -Donate dollars tax-free toward student loans.
Also involved in the discussions was Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is running against Thune to become the next GOP leader and is another member of the finance panel.
Johnson told Senate Republicans in June that he wanted to pass the most ambitious package possible in Trump’s first year in office if he won a second term.
The speaker suggested Republican senators over the summer include tax cuts, spending cuts and regulatory reforms in legislation that Republicans would pass as part of the Senate budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to bypass a Democratic filibuster.
Controversial legislation otherwise requires 60 votes to pass the upper chamber. But Republicans could exploit special budget rules to speed up legislation if they control the White House and both chambers of Congress.
“He’s making it pretty clear that they want to try to go big, and that means more than just extending the tax cuts,” Cornyn said after meeting with Johnson this summer.
A GOP aide argued that the reconciliation package must address the border issue because Trump emphasized it so much during the campaign.
“Dealing with the problem at the border is something that the president has said will be one of his top priorities and goals if elected,” the adviser said. “It would be a mistake to present a reconciliation law that is only an expansion [the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act] and not address these other important issues that President Trump has talked about in his campaign.”
Scalise, the No. 2 House GOP leader, told a reporter on Monday that Trump has already told Republican leadership his top priorities for 2025.
“I have already spoken to President Trump about the top priorities he wants,” Scalise told NOTUS during a trip to the border in McAllen, Texas.
“Above all, we talked about getting the economy back on track and securing the border,” he said. “Of course these are the top topics at the moment. I am sure we will help reduce healthcare costs and address healthcare transparency that currently does not exist.”
Across the Capitol, McConnell and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, including Thune, have formed policy groups to review the expiring Trump-era law that overhauled the tax code nearly a decade ago.
Crapo told Bloomberg earlier this year that the groups would discuss every aspect of the expiring tax breaks in preparation for next year’s tax debate.
Sources familiar with the talks say they (*100*) preparing for all scenarios, including the party splitting control of Congress or the possibility that Democrats retain control of the White House.
But Republican lawmakers and aides (*100*) increasingly confident that Trump will defeat Harris based on recent poll trends. They hope his victory will be enough to propel Republican candidates to victory in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Trump is now dead, although Harris lives in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, three states seen as crucial to Democrats’ hopes of remaining in the White House.
