President Donald Trump promised House Republicans they would secure the U.S. border through a reconciliation package at a House GOP issues conference Monday at Trump National Doral, his golf course and resort near Miami.
Trump also said Congress would figure out whether his large policy overhaul will fit into one bill or two bills — an issue splitting Republicans in the House and Senate.
“In the coming weeks, I’m looking forward to working with Congress on a reconciliation bill that financially takes care of our plan to totally and permanently restore the sovereign border of the United States once and for all,” Trump said. “This should include full funding for a record increase in border security personnel and retention bonuses for ICE and border patrol.”
TIM SCOTT EMPHASIZES ‘RESULTS’ OVER RECONCILIATION PROCESS AS HE STAYS OUT OF DEBATE
President Donald Trump said Monday that Congress would figure out whether his large policy overhaul will fit into one bill or two bills — an issue splitting Republicans in the House and Senate. (Melina Mara – Pool/Getty Images)
Trump also vowed to work with members of Congress on the “largest package of tax cuts and reforms in American history.”
Many of the reforms included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Trump passed during his first term are set to expire in 2025, and Trump’s new economic plan calls for extending such cuts.
Meanwhile, Republicans remain divided about how they will move to advance their legislative priorities. While Republicans in the Senate are pushing for two bills under the budget reconciliation process to speed up enacting new policies, Trump and Republicans in the House historically have called for advancing one massive bill instead.
However, Trump said Monday it doesn’t matter whether the legislative branch pushes one or two bills.
“We don’t want to get hung up on the budget process … whether it’s one bill, two bills, I don’t care,” Trump said. “They’re going to work it out one way or the other. But the bottom line, the end result, is going to be the same.”
Under the rules of the budget reconciliation process, passage only requires a 51-seat simple majority rather than the usual 60 seats. Even so, the use of the reconciliation process is sparse and must not include anything that could be considered “extraneous provisions.”
Trump met with House and Senate GOP leaders on Tuesday, and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital after the meeting that he remained “agnostic about the process” of employing one bill versus two bills.
REPUBLICAN LEADERS STILL AT ODDS ON RECONCILIATION DEBATE AFTER TRUMP MEETING
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., said he is “agnostic about the process” of passing President Donald Trump’s legislative priorities in one measure or two measures. (Reuters)
“I think for us, results are more important than process,” Scott told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.
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“And if that requires us to have border security, tax reform, deportation — whatever we can get into a package or multiple packages — we have to produce results for the people,” he said.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.