Scalise says GOP leadership, Trump agree to move on 1 reconciliation bill

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) on Tuesday said Republican leaders agreed to move President Trump’s legislative agenda in one sweeping bill, a development he shared with reporters after top GOP lawmakers huddled at the White House with the president.

The announcement from Scalise comes after weeks of debate over how to carry out Trump’s legislative wish list, with several senators — including Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) — pushing for two bills to carry Trump's priorities through the budget reconciliation process instead of one, in hopes of more quickly enacting some of the president’s agenda. House leaders, meanwhile, advocated for a single bill, a preference Trump said he shared.

“We’re moving forward with one bill,” Scalise told reporters after returning to the Capitol from the White House.

Pressed on whether that was the agreement, and whether the Senate was on board, Scalise responded: “Yeah.”

“We’re moving forward with reconciliation on one bill, we made clear about that,” he later added.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who also attended the White House meeting, was more coy, telling reporters that leaders had landed on “a plan pretty well formulated” without delving into specifics.

“We’ve got a plan pretty well formulated now, and I’m not going to tell all of you all the details of it yet, because that's not how this works. But the party is working in unison, the leaders in both chambers are working in a bicameral fashion and the president is all on board,” Johnson said when he arrived back at the Capitol.

Pressed on whether Thune had agreed to one bill, Johnson told reporters: “I’m not gonna talk about the discussions that we have, but we do have a strategy that we’re all working on together.”

“It will be bicameral, and there’s a lot of excitement about that,” the Speaker added.

Trump echoed Johnson when asked if a conclusion had been reached, telling reporters: “Pretty much, I think we have a good situation now.”

Tuesday’s meeting marked the first formal meeting for Washington’s Republican trifecta, which was solidified after Trump was sworn in on Monday. Johnson said he and Thune met with Trump and Vice President Vance in the Oval Office before those four met with other leaders from both chambers in the Cabinet room.

“We talked about strategy and priorities for the Congress and where we are and where we’re headed,” he said of his meeting with Trump, Thune and Vance. “A great spirit of unity, I can tell you the Republican Party is united and excited.”

The meeting came as lawmakers work to move Trump’s agenda through reconciliation on an ambitious timeline as Republicans grapple with an ultraslim majority in the House.

Legislation passed under budget reconciliation rules cannot be filibustered in the Senate, but the rules can only be used a limited number of times in a year.

Scalise said GOP leaders are still looking at the same timeline that was previously unveiled: Pass a budget resolution — which unlocks the budget reconciliation process — in February, have committees start drafting text in March, then get the bill over the finish line by Easter.

“President Trump’s ready to go,” Scalise said. “Here’s day one, he’s already had a meeting with congressional leadership and ready to go.”

Several thorny issues remain, however, including how to approach raising the debt limit, how much to raise the deduction cap on state and local taxes and how to make the entire package budget neutral, as some hard-line Republicans are demanding.

Separately, a March 14 government funding deadline is fast approaching, and Congress will likely have to consider disaster aid for California in the wake of wildfires that devastated the Golden State.

Trump in comments to reporters after the meeting with congressional leaders brought up federal relief needed after the wildfires in Los Angeles, arguing that it made GOP negotiations easier and committing to “take care” of the city.

“It’s been in some ways made simpler by Los Angeles because they’re going to need a lot of money. Generally speaking, I think you’ll find a lot of Democrats are going to be asking for help, so I think maybe that makes it more one-sided,” he said. “We’re going to take care of Los Angeles.”

Trump last week floated the idea of including federal aid to Los Angeles as part of a massive reconciliation package, suggesting that doing so would win over some Democratic votes.

But it is highly unlikely that Republicans would include wildfire aid in the bill of Trump priorities. Some Republicans have advocated for pairing the wildfire aid with a debt limit increase and regular government funding in order to woo Democratic votes.

Even if aid to California is ultimately paired with the Trump reconciliation package, it is unlikely Democrats would back the bill since it would include a litany of provisions that they abhor.

Scalise said leaders have not yet made a decision on how to address the borrowing limit — whether it should be in the reconciliation bill or paired with another measure — but said it could be included in the government funding bill. He also said congressional leaders are waiting on a formal request from the Trump administration for California disaster aid.

In the second meeting with a wider group of GOP leaders, Trump emphasized the need for Republicans to stay unified as they wrangle the slim majority, which will soon leave GOP leaders in the House with almost no room for error.

“It was more so a let's-work-together kind of thing, and let’s accomplish some things,” said Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), vice chair of the House GOP.

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