Speaker Mike Johnson set out a six-week timeline Tuesday for passing a budget blueprint — a necessary first step in getting President-elect Donald Trump’s sprawling domestic agenda through Congress.
Under the timeline Johnson set out, the House would need to coalesce around a strategy and write a budget resolution by Feb. 10, setting up floor debate and adoption that week. The Senate would then debate the measure and adopt it the following week. The timeline was described by two Republicans familiar with Johnson’s plans.
Johnson told Republicans he would like the blueprint wrapped up before the House GOP retreat that’s slated to start Feb. 27, according to the two Republicans. But he acknowledged the House may need to come back after their retreat to address any changes from the Senate.
It will be a major challenge to meet that timeline, given the House and Senate are currently pursuing two different plans, both utilizing the party-line reconciliation process. Adoption of a budget resolution is a necessary first step in that process.
Johnson said in a closed-door House GOP Conference meeting that he had spoken earlier in the morning with Trump — who remains, he said, inclined to aim for one massive bill that spans border, energy and tax policy, according to two Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter.
House conservative hard-liners pushed Trump at Mar-a-Lago this weekend to embrace the two-track strategy preferred in the Senate, with little success.
