Republicans are back in charge on both sides of Congress for the first time in six years, facing pressure to make good on President-elect Donald Trump’s tax and spending policies and to prepare his slate of nominees for quick confirmation.
The Senate Agriculture Committee’s confirmation hearing for Trump’s pick as agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, has been set for Jan. 15, according to a committee source. So far, no opposition to her nomination has emerged.
On Monday, the House and Senate will meet to certify the November election results with none of the drama that surrounded the ratification of the 2020 election results.
While the House and Senate will both be in session this week, the legislative schedule will be limited, in part because of ceremonies for the late President Jimmy Carter. Carter’s body will lie in state in the Capitol on Wednesday, and his state funeral will follow Thursday morning at the Washington National Cathedral.
Committees on both sides of the Hill will take a while to gear up, since the panels are still getting organized and staffed up. House Democrats have yet to name their committee rosters. The new top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, hasn’t named her full staff yet. Klobuchar is replacing Debbie Stabenow, who retired.
House Republicans, meanwhile, are under pressure to move quickly to enact Trump’s agenda.
Fresh off his re-election as speaker of the House on Friday and a day-long closed door meeting with GOP members Saturday, Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson told Fox News on Sunday that the House will move a single, giant budget reconciliation bill that will address border security and energy development as well as an extension of the 2017 tax cuts and an increase in the government's debt ceiling.
He said he intended to have the bill through the House by the first week of April and to Trump by the end of May at the latest.
"We want to make sure that we’re jumpstarting now over the next two weeks so he’s prepared and ready on day one. We have a lot to do as you know. We’ve been putting all the plays together and figuring out the sequence of how we’re going to run those plays," Johnson said.
Johnson said the increase in the debt ceiling would be accompanied by a deep reduction in federal spending. "We’re the team that wants to cut spending and we will do it dramatically," he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., prefers delaying tax provisions to a second reconciliation bill later in the year.
The budget reconciliation process allows Republicans to move legislation that raises or lowers revenue and spending through the Senate with a simple majority, not the 60-vote majority required for other measures.
Even passing a bill in the narrowly divided House won't be easy. The GOP currently controls the chamber 219-215, so Johnson can only afford to lose one vote on a reconciliation bill with that majority. Johnson’s struggle to win the speakership on Friday illustrates the challenge ahead for him in moving any partisan legislation.
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Some hardline conservatives are demanding that tax cuts and border security funding be offset with deep reductions in federal spending, an approach that’s likely to face internal GOP opposition on both sides of the Capitol. Senate Republicans have argued that the cost of extending expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act shouldn’t have to be offset.
Thune used an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News’ Face the Nation to make the case for a two-step strategy. He said the first bill would address national security and energy policy, noting that Democrats moved two reconciliation bills “while they had the while they had the majority in the last session of the Congress … both of which did a lot of tax policy, spending policy, etc.”
Thune said extending the expiring tax cuts would generate economic growth but that there also would be spending reductions to limit the impact on the federal deficit.
He said “every 1% increase in GDP and economic growth, we're told, generates about $3 trillion in additional tax revenue. So you're going to get some back in terms of a growth dividend, and there will be spending cuts. There's no question about it.”
Johnson's one-bill approach aligns with what House Republicans like House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., have been calling for. Ahead of Saturday’s meeting, other Ways and Means members also backed the idea of a one-step process but appeared open to hearing other options during the retreat.
“I think that a single bill is a better idea. I'm willing to hear out what others might have insight on but we've got a lot of work to do, so I'm glad we're starting to dig in tomorrow,” said Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb.,. He said it seems like several members would also prefer a single reconciliation bill over two.
On Friday night, Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, predicted Republicans were on the path for a two-bill process but said he preferred a single bill.
“It's so important that we get the first reconciliation on energy, done, and getting immigration reform done, I mean those are two huge things,” Feenstra said. “So hopefully we can get that done, and then you can really focus on tax.”
Here is a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EST):
Monday, Jan. 6
Joint session of Congress to certify presidential election results.
Tuesday, Jan. 7
Wednesday, Jan. 8
Thursday, Jan. 9-10 – Potato Expo, hosted by the National Potato Council, Orlando, Fl.
Thursday, Jan. 9-11 –
Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference, Savannah, Ga.
8:30 a.m. – USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report.
10 a.m. – Funeral for the late President Jimmy Carter, Washington National Cathedral.
Noon – Cato Institute forum, “Executive Orders That the Trump Administration Should Revoke or Amend.”
Friday, Jan. 10
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