House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith is swatting down some of his colleagues’ hopes for a party-line policy bill next year, even as Speaker Mike Johnson publicly tries to keep the idea alive.
“I don’t see a path of a second reconciliation ever passing,” Smith (R-Mo.) said in an interview as he left the Capitol on Wednesday, referring to the special budgetary procedures that can allow legislation to avoid a Senate filibuster.
The comment came just hours after Johnson said in a CNBC interview that Republicans could still attempt another second reconciliation bill early next year — especially to address health care with the party facing pressure to act as key Obamacare subsidies expire. The promise of another party-line bill figured into conversations Johnson had with GOP hard-liners over the past week as they pushed for assurances for further action before Johnson pushed through a narrow health care bill Wednesday.
Smith, on the other hand, has long been skeptical that Republicans will get more than one bite at the reconciliation apple in the 119th Congress. He was a key proponent of pursing “one big, beautiful bill” this year encompassing tax cuts and other GOP priorities rather than splitting it up into multiple pieces.
