The House is in the driver’s seat of the budget reconciliation process and will “drag” the Senate “across the finish line here and there” if needed to deliver on President Donald Trump’s agenda, House Republicans’ chief vote counter said.
Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) made a case for the House going first to enact President Trump’s agenda at a Bloomberg Government event Monday. His remarks came as a quiet standoff between the House and Senate continues to simmer, with Senate Republicans slow to swallow House Republicans’ budget resolution as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his fellow leaders urge swift action.
“The way our government is set up, it’s supposed to originate in the House,” Emmer said of Congress’ legislative agenda. “It hasn’t for years — we have not practiced the art of constitutional governance, arguably, for 30 years. That is changing.”
The House’s front-and-center role in enacting Trump’s agenda comes after years of what many House members have seen as outsize Senate power in Washington. Some of Trump’s closest allies are in the House, and he directly called members to help the budget blueprint pass earlier this month.
The budget resolution tees up the reconciliation process, in which Republicans will try to pass mammoth Trump-backed measures with a simple majority to bypass the Senate filibuster. While House Republicans spent the last two years infighting and ousting their then-speaker under then-President Joe Biden, members have stayed united for the first two months of the second Trump administration.
Emmer credited the House GOP unity to Trump, highlighting his phone calls to members and times when he has hosted them at the White House to hash out the legislative agenda.
“We didn’t win the election — Donald Trump did,” Emmer said of Congressional Republicans’ 2024 victories. “And if we’re going to be successful in the midterms, what do you have to do? You have to enact the agenda that they elected Trump to do.”
House lawmakers coming off an appropriations win see themselves in a position of strength as they return for a three-week sprint where they hope to find common ground with the Senate on a budget resolution.
Top House GOP leaders, including Emmer, released a statement Monday saying the House is “determined” to send President Trump a single bill that includes border security along with tax provisions, and defense spending.
“We encourage our Senate colleagues to take up the House budget resolution when they return to Washington,” the statement said.
Emmer said the two chambers have not worked this well in quite some time, and that talks continued during last week’s recess. He said this week would be critical in determining if they’re on track to meet the Memorial Day deadline on final reconciliation bill passage set by Johnson.
Senate lawmakers seeking to use the controversial “current policy” scoring method essential for their gambit to permanently extend expiring 2017 tax law provisions will likely get a decision this week or next from the Senate parliamentarian, the de-facto referee of the process, Emmer said.
But, the final resolution instructions will be for Johnson and others to hash out — His job is to find the votes.
“When you give it to me,” Emmer said. “My job is just to execute.”
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