By Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch
Remember when kicking the government funding can down the road was supposed to give congressional Republicans overtime to resolve their disagreements? As lawmakers approach a March 14 deadline, they’re forecasting another extension. Bottom line: A full set of appropriations bills is nowhere in sight.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), members of his leadership team and an ideological cross section of lawmakers huddled for hours on Thursday with Trump and Vance to discuss a framework for advancing the president’s legislative wish list. His priorities include border funding, immigration policy and an extension of the 2017 tax cuts. Johnson, who is struggling to wrangle his razor-thin House GOP majority, said Sunday that tentative plans for a House Budget Committee markup this week on Trump’s massive legislative agenda may now be postponed.
“We were going to do a Budget Committee markup next week,” Johnson told “Fox News Sunday” at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, where he was preparing to watch the Super Bowl with Trump. “We might push it a little bit further because the details really matter. Remember that I have the smallest margin in history, about a two-vote margin currently, so I’ve got to make sure everyone agrees before we bring the project forward, that final product. And we’ve got a few more boxes to check, but we’re getting very, very close.”
Meanwhile, Hill relations are souring: Johnson last week accused House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) of “trying to set up some sort of a government shutdown” and saying Democrats were “unresponsive.”
“Projection,” Jeffries said, adding that Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the Democrats’ top appropriator, “has been trying to get Republicans to respond to her for weeks — weeks.”
House Republicans have said they’re “very close” to a deal for weeks now, even as progress stalls. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are moving ahead with an alternative, two-bill package focused on border security, defense and energy production. The Senate Budget Committee plans to mark up that package Wednesday and Thursday.
Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), chair of the House Republican Policy Committee, on Sunday defended Johnson’s delay in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” with Chris Stirewalt. Hern said Johnson’s task is especially difficult, noting the GOP can lose virtually no votes in the House, but he said he is optimistic that the conference will be able to move forward with a resolution this week.
Politico: Inside the House GOP clash over tax cuts.
With no stalemate resolution in sight, Trump could be stuck with Biden-era funding levels for longer than expected. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said last week that “appetite is increasing” among Republicans for a full-year stopgap to prevent a shutdown next month and keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year. But members on either side aren’t happy about the prospect of keeping funding the same as last year.
“That’s one of the things that, as an appropriator, that worries you,” Cole told reporters last week. “I would say that there’s a significant portion of our Congress that would rather us just [pass a stopgap] until we get Trump’s stuff.”
The New York Times: The confirmation of Russell Vought to lead the powerful White House budget office is likely to escalate the funding fights roiling Washington and the nation.
SENATE LOBBYIST: Vance has quickly become Trump’s liaison to the Senate, which has paid dividends during the confirmation processes for the most controversial nominees. The Senate GOP has long included voices skeptical of Trump, and even with a larger 53-seat majority that includes a number of new Trump allies, there have been doubts about some Cabinet picks. Now national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appear headed toward confirmation after several doubters announced their support last week. Vance, a former senator, has been a “kind of chief Senate lobbyist,” said a source close to the president.
“He’s been enormously helpful,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told The Hill of Vance. “[He’s] willing to talk to whomever and served as a really good liaison between the president and our members, and I think people appreciate the fact that he’s been really candid. He’s not sugarcoating anything.”
NBC News: From TikTok to messy Cabinet nomination fights, Vance builds his VP portfolio. Vance heads to France and Germany this week for the first overseas trip of his vice presidency.