House Budget Chief Plans February Vote to Jumpstart Trump Agenda

House Republicans could take the first procedural vote in the reconciliation process for President-elect Donald Trump’s legislative agenda as early as next month, House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington said Tuesday.

Arrington (R-Texas) hopes to swiftly mark up an ambitious budget resolution—the first step in the process of passing fiscal bills without Democratic support—that would tackle an extension of the 2017 tax law, spending cuts, and border and energy policy.

“Our goal is to do it very quickly, and potentially as early as the last week in February,” Arrington said in an interview. “That’s breaking news.”

Adopting a budget resolution in both the House and Senate gives policy committees the power to draft legislation under expedited procedures, and without fear of a likely Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

Congressional leaders have been wrangling over whether to include an extension of the 2017 tax law in an early budget reconciliation bill. Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Jan. 5 they prefer one bill to tackle tax and other policy early in his second administration.

But some Senate Republicans and fiscal hawks seeking offsets to a tax package have urged a slower timeline that would see a border and energy bill move first before turning to tax and spending cuts.

Arrington’s ambitious timeline would test lawmakers’ ability to reach a comprehensive agreement on top-line revenue and spending figures, which could prove elusive in the split body.

Johnson plans to meet with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) Tuesday about the two reconciliation possibilities, but he noted that Trump prefers one bill.

“We will get the two chambers united on the same strategy,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday.