Here’s what stands in the way of Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ tax and border bill
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was aiming to have a blueprint for a budget soon. President Trump wants Congress to pass “one big, beautiful bill" that would extend expiring tax cuts and provide money for border enforcement.
As House Republicans concluded a three-day meeting at a Trump resort in Florida, that legislation is nowhere near done. Lawmakers are wrestling with their slim majority and internal disputes over the size of spending cuts. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) was keeping any details close to his chest when asked Tuesday if House Republicans made final decisions on cuts, costs or savings.
“We’re in the process of working through this," Johnson said, adding that he was aiming to have a blueprint for a budget soon and is sticking to his aggressive timeline to finish the bill within a few months. Here are some obstacles and choices Republicans face between today and the moment a bill lands on Trump’s desk for his signature. Republicans have been stuck for weeks on this basic question.
Many House members and Trump want to combine everything—border money, military spending, cuts to social-safety programs, tax reductions—into one piece of legislation. The idea is that the House, with a slim majority currently at 218-215, works best if everyone’s priorities ride together in a pass-fail test. Senators haven’t bought in, however, and Trump has stayed open to their two-bill plan, telling House Republicans this week that he didn’t care how they did it.
The two-bill idea: Move quickly on border money, defense expenditures and energy policy and save messy tax-and-spending debates for later in the year. Lawmakers likely have to decide this question soon. The House and Senate
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