GOP tension grows on Trump agenda bill as Senate diverges from House's path

WASHINGTON — As the GOP-led House struggles to begin work on “one big, beautiful bill“ to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda, the Senate Republican budget chief says the upper chamber will move forward on a distinct two-bill path.

The conflict over strategy comes as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and a group of House Republicans meet Thursday at the White House with Trump, who has indicated a preference for a one-bill approach to pass his policy priorities on taxes, immigration and energy, but largely steered clear of the dispute between the two chambers.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday the panel will move forward next week with a budget resolution to kick-start a two-bill process after conferring with Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other colleagues at a lunch meeting.

“It’s time for the Senate to move,” Graham told reporters, adding that while he appreciates the House’s views, it’s “very important” to get Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan more funding immediately to carry out his immigration crackdown.

“That means more ICE agents, build the wall, finish technology, you know, technology to secure the border, and increase bed space so you don’t have to let people go,” Graham said. “That can only happen with new money.”

Graham said the Senate is eying “around $150 billion for border security” and “somewhere in that range” to expand military spending, for a total of $300 billion on the first bill. That would leave Trump’s agenda on taxes for a second bill.

The Senate plans aren’t sitting well with House leaders like Johnson and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., who are sticking with a one-bill strategy that includes an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of this year.

“I’m going to talk to Lindsey, he’s a good friend,” Johnson told reporters. “He has to understand the reality of the House. It’s a very different chamber with very different dynamics. And the House needs to lead this if we’re going to have success.”

While Senate Republicans have a 53-47 majority, the House GOP’s currently stands at 218-215, with no expectation of winning Democrats for the party-line measure. The party is using a special budget process that can bypass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold and effectively cut out Democrats.

“We’re very comfortable about where we are. We feel very optimistic, we’re getting there,” Johnson said. “And we’re going to find that equilibrium point and get this done.”

The Senate plans were announced after House Republicans indefinitely postponed an expected budget markup this week, struggling to achieve consensus on a path forward. That imperils Johnson’s aggressive timeline to pass a bill by April. Conservative lawmakers are demanding steeper spending cuts as a condition for their support, which other colleagues are hesitant to embrace.

Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., the fourth ranking House Republican, said the budget markup would be next week, if not this week. She said members are still discussing the appropriate level of cuts.

“I don’t know the exact number. We won’t know till we figure it out,” McClain told NBC News.

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, said he wants a 2-to-1 ratio of cuts to new spending in any such bill, and wants it to be made clear in the budget resolution that instructs committees to get to work on the actual bill.

“For every $1 we’re going to spend, at this point, on this reconciliation, we got to find $2 to cut,” Perry said in an interview. “You got to find some savings somewhere.”

“We should just, quite honestly, just go back to the pre-pandemic spending level” of 2019, he added. “You’re when you’re not sick anymore, you don’t keep going to the doctor.”

Perry said he won’t be satisfied with a “vague” budget resolution that keeps options open for the House.

“Vague means that the swamp is going to spend money,” he said. “I don’t like vague. Let’s see the details.”

With the narrow margin in the House, Johnson cannot afford to lose the votes of conservatives like Perry in order to begin the process.

Meanwhile, senators are growing impatient and don’t want to wait.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said after the Wednesday GOP lunch meeting, “I think we’re going to proceed on the basis of two bills.” But he acknowledged that the House may reject their strategy.

“Now, if we do a bill, Speaker Johnson can always put it on the shelf in the House. And they can get to it when they would like to,” Kennedy said. “I don’t see this as a competition. I see this as: We’ve got a lot to do in the next year.”

Senators worry that a tax bill would be too complicated to pass quickly, and that Trump’s immigration plans will run into trouble if he doesn’t have more resources to carry them out. But House GOP leaders are concerned that if they defer a tax package until later, after Trump’s political honeymoon is over, they may lose momentum and fail to renew the tax cuts at all.

The House-Senate dispute on how to proceed has persisted for nearly two months, even before Trump was inaugurated, and he has done little to resolve it. Trump has indicated that he prefers one bill but would be fine with either approach.

“I’ve always believed that one big, beautiful bill is too complicated,” Graham told reporters. “What unites Republicans, for sure, is border security and more money for the military. It’s important we put points on the board.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com