Trump and Republicans Are Avoiding the Hard Questions
What are the actual policies — about taxes, immigration, defense or energy — that the newly empowered party would like to enact into law?
Putting on a unified front.
Photographer: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images North AmericaOne bill or two? That’s the question currently obsessing Washington as President-elect Donald Trump fails to decisively resolve a tactical disagreement between House and Senate Republicans.
John Thune, the new Senate majority leader, wants the party to pass two bills through the filibuster-dodging budget reconciliation process: The first would involve spending additional money on defense and immigration enforcement, offset by revenue derived from issuing more permits for oil and gas exploration. That would allow for a second bill focused on extending Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and offsetting the cost with spending cuts. House Speaker Mike Johnson, by contrast, wants to cram all these issues together in one “mega-MAGA” legislative package.