Speaker Mike Johnson is laying down a highly ambitious timeline to approve President-elect Donald Trump’s big-ticket legislative agenda, vowing House passage in the next three months.
“We’re targeting April for final passage,” Johnson, R-La., told NBC News on Tuesday.
He reiterated that the House plans to pass Trump’s policy wishes on border security, domestic energy and taxes in “one big, beautiful bill.” Johnson has also called for including spending cuts and a debt ceiling increase in the bill.
It would be a herculean task with Johnson’s paper-thin House majority — and no expectation of winning Democratic votes. Republicans have a 219-215 margin, which is poised to temporarily shrink to 217-215 with two members leaving for the Trump administration. Johnson said earlier he wants to pass a budget resolution to kick off the “reconciliation” process by late February.
Republican senators are skeptical about speedily passing one bill that runs the gamut of Trump’s agenda.
“I think we’ve seen that the House is operating on a razor’s edge,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in an interview. “The more that we have this debate about one bill or two bills, that means we’re not passing a budget and we’re not dealing with reconciliation instructions. So I think we need to break the glass and acknowledge that the House may not be able to pass what the Senate can pass. … We need to all get on the same page. The limiting factor really, in my view, is what the House can pass.”