House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Sunday he hopes to pass President-elect Trump's agenda through a major reconciliation bill by Memorial Day.
Johnson reiterated in an interview on Fox News' “Sunday Morning Futures” that Republicans will try to cram as many policy items as possible into the massive reconciliation bill, so they can pass most of it in the Senate. It would avoid the 60-vote threshold needed to pass, he said.
A reconciliation bill would require a simple majority, or 50 votes, in the Senate.
“We're 15 days away from the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump's second term, and we want to make sure we start planning the next two weeks now so he's prepared and ready for his first day. “I think so,” Johnson said. “You know, we have a lot of work to do. And we've been putting all the plays together and thinking about the order of how we're going to run those plays. And we're I’m really excited about that.”
“At the end of the day, President Trump would prefer to pick one big, beautiful bill, as he likes to say. There's a lot of merit to that. It's because there are so many factors that all “Because we can collectively make one big yes or no vote and literally save the country. And it will give us a little more time to negotiate and get it right.” said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there were several “low-hanging fruit” bills, including border issues, that he would bring to a vote immediately. But Johnson said immigration and deportation policies would also be included in the settlement, as would tax cuts and energy permitting reform.
Johnson said President Trump also called for the debt ceiling to be addressed by June.
“I think we need to do that with this bill,” Johnson said of raising or eliminating the debt ceiling.
Asked for a “realistic timetable” for getting the huge bill to the president's desk, Mr Johnson said: “It will definitely happen by May, yes.”
He said Republicans are “targeting a vote in the House, probably the first week of April,” and a vote could “probably happen as early as April 3 and then move to the Senate.” he added.
“Then that bill will be on the president's desk for signature by the end of April, which would be great,” Johnson said. “And worst case scenario, Memorial Day is coming.”
Johnson said he hopes addressing many legislative priorities in one bill will reduce the chance of losing support from lawmakers.
“There are a lot of things to consider, a lot of things to negotiate, a lot of opinions on all of that, so we're going to be working at the whiteboard for a long time, making sure that all the Republicans are on board. Because, remember, I'll take care of it.''For much of the first 100 days, the margin remained the smallest in U.S. history. But we're going to get through it. ”
