Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee huddled on Monday with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to review a large menu of tax options for the GOP’s policy agenda.
The tax writers were for the most part tight-lipped on what they discussed as they exited the all-day session at the Jefferson building of the Library of Congress. But committee members indicated that it was a productive discussion about the framework for a large bill that would enact President Donald Trump’s tax agenda, which would include an extension of trillions of dollars in expiring tax cuts.
“We’re looking at the menu,” said Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), a freshman on the committee, adding, “I don’t think we’ve ordered anything.”
Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said he wouldn’t share anything about the details of the meeting, only that “it went very well.”
The meeting showed that House Republicans are forging ahead in crafting legislation under the budget they passed in February — even as Senate Republicans are indicating that they’d like major changes to the House framework.
Indeed, around the same time that the House tax writers dispersed, their counterparts on the Senate Finance Committee convened Monday evening to discuss the chamber’s path forward.
Those senators indicated coming out of the meeting that they weren’t close to a consensus on how to proceed on the tax cuts that have been demanded by Trump, or the size of spending cuts that would need to be included in the package to placate fiscal conservatives.
“There’s a lot more work to do,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said. “The reality is we have to get this done by probably August time frame. It would be ideal to get it done sooner. … I would rather do the time and get it right.”
That’s far from the Memorial Day time frame Smith said House Republicans are aiming for to get a bill to Trump’s desk.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said “there’s no consensus” on his side of the Capitol.
“It’s a slow, challenging process,” he said. “We’re still at the early stages.”
Senate Republicans are largely united in wanting to make the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent, but several said Monday coming out of the meeting that they don’t yet have buy-in from the conference on the size of spending reductions they should push for — and predicted a major fight to come. Senate GOP leaders have warned privately that it would be hard to match the House GOP’s level of cuts without touching Medicaid, a move that sparks unease among some Senate Republicans.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a member of the Finance Committee, argued for Republicans to “get serious about real spending reductions,” adding that there was $1.3 trillion in mandatory spending beyond Medicaid. He said that accepting the House plan — which sticks a significant portion of the spending cuts with one committee, Energy and Commerce — is not “serious.”
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) added after the meeting that he still does not yet support using the current policy baseline to extend the tax cuts. The accounting tactic would make it appear as though extending the tax cuts costs nothing.
In addition to the Senate Finance Republicans’ talks, which have been happening for months, GOP senators are also expected to discuss budget reconciliation, as well as a more urgent government funding deadline, during their closed-door lunch Tuesday. Republicans plan to use the reconciliation process to avoid a Democratic filibuster of the larger legislation carrying Trump’s priorities.
The dual-track between the House and Senate comes even as House Republicans want to get the bill through their chamber next month.
Republicans in both chambers know they will eventually need to merge their work products, but how or when that happens is still unclear — and some Senate Republicans are continuing to push privately and publicly for their two-bill approach, which would deal with energy, defense and border issues first and taxes second.
“Obviously we’re still waiting for top line information from the Senate, and we can then start drilling down into the particulars, but we’re getting a good sense of where members stand on the various provisions,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.).
The House adopted a budget resolution teeing up a single omnibus bill that would link together tax, defense, energy and the border last month.
But since then, Senate Republicans have largely hit the brakes as they work to determine how to get 51 votes from their own members on the spending cuts and the tax piece. They are also keeping an eye on House Republicans to see if they can meet Speaker Mike Johnson’s self-imposed timeline for getting a bill to the floor.
Asked about House Republicans kvetching during a closed-door meeting earlier Monday about the Senate not moving fast enough, one Senate GOP aide pointed back to the House quipping: “Where is their bill? If they’re cranky about our pace.”
