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Republicans’ plan aligns with how Democrats treated their full control of Washington in 2021 and how the GOP behaved in 2017 under the same conditions. But this time, Trump’s party hopes for quicker success than in the past; under Biden, for example, Democrats passed a hefty Covid aid bill within weeks but then struggled on a second attempt at party-line policymaking.
As Cornyn hinted, Republicans signaled this week that they may try to pass a budget resolution before Trump is sworn into office on Jan. 20, which would allow for faster consideration of the border and energy policy bill. Thune told GOP senators that he wants to move a “targeted” reconciliation package as quickly as the new Congress and administration can do so.
The 2017 GOP majority also set out to pass two reconciliation bills in one year, but faceplanted on its plans to repeal Obamacare, eventually pivoting to focus on what became the Trump tax cut bill. The 2021 Democratic majority eventually settled for an energy and health care-focused bill negotiated with Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., that passed close to the 2022 election.
The 2025 Republican majority will try to avoid those pitfalls, but the slim House majority and ideologically diverse Senate majority aren’t their only problems. Ultimately, the Senate parliamentarian will have to sign off on Republicans’ reconciliation bills, which can lose their filibuster protection if specific elements don’t have a direct budgetary effect.
That constraint has limited immigration policy changes in the past, but Republicans are going to get creative.
“We’re going to put everything that is legally possible to put in, is my prediction,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
Johnson spokesman Taylor Haulsee said in a statement that the Louisiana Republican “had a productive discussion with Senate Republicans, where he emphasized the need for unity heading into the first 100 days agenda next year given the different margins in the House and Senate.”
Thune is also pursuing a breakneck legislative schedule that means more work days for the Senate. He has outlined voting on Fridays (the Senate often works Monday through Thursday regardless of the party in charge) and shutting down floor votes that can drag on for more than an hour, a post-pandemic quirk that annoys more timely senators in both parties.
Republicans want to move Trump’s nominees starting Jan. 20, too, which could require weekend work for the Senate if Democrats fight quick confirmation of top officials. And Thune also wants to reboot the broken federal spending process, a big task considering that it’s been decades since Congress passed individual spending bills on time.