Scoop: Inside the White House pitch for pre-election MAGA megabill
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OMB Director Russell Vought during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington on July 16. Photo: Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
White House officials will press Senate Republicans behind closed doors Wednesday to pass a blueprint for another GOP-only megabill before they leave for the August recess, but save any possible debt ceiling increase for later, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Senate Republican leaders have been skeptical that there is the time — or the votes — to get it done. President Trump and his team disagree.
- White House officials want the Senate to build in flexibility to jam through as much of the SAVE America Act as possible, and they are insisting it can be crafted to avoid tough amendment votes.
Zoom in: Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought, legislative affairs director James Braid and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will speak at Senate Republicans' weekly lunch on Wednesday, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell Axios.
- Vought and Braid will make a three-point pitch for passing a budget resolution to kick off reconciliation 3.0.
- They'll argue it should be the GOP's priority to "pay our troops, help our farms and secure our elections," a senior White House official told Axios.
Zoom in: The White House wants the Senate by the end of next week to pass a similar resolution to the one that the House passed earlier this month.
- The resolution outlines $73 billion in funding for defense, $12 billion in farm aid and a $10 billion fund aimed at incentivizing states to adopt elements of the SAVE America Act.
- The resolution addresses the two most popular parts of SAVE for Republicans: requiring photo ID to vote and proof of citizenship to register.
Between the lines: The White House officials plan to make the argument to Republicans that the reconciliation blueprint should include instructions for a large number of committees— whether that's 8 or 10 or more.
- The idea is to provide flexibility to pass as much of the SAVE Act as possible if the parliamentarian raises concerns about jurisdiction: For example, if a provision dealing with driver's licenses ends up falling under the Commerce committee's jurisdiction.
- Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday evening that reconciliation 3.0 is going to "become a much more comprehensive process that could create instructions to up to a dozen committees."
- "The goal is for the budget to have maximum flexibility to get as much through Byrd as possible, that is protectable on the floor in a vote-a-rama context, and that can be passed before the Senate goes on August recess," the White House official told Axios.
The intrigue: The White House is not planning to ask the Senate to raise the debt limit in this package, the official told Axios.
- That could be part of the discussion for a potential fourth, lame duck package.
- The debt limit would fall under Finance Committee jurisdiction, opening up the possibility for Democrats to force Medicaid amendment votes.
The bottom line: "We hope that the Senate can walk with us in this process," the official said, "so that we can unify traditional Republican constituencies of farmers, of our troops and, obviously, the MAGA base."
