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Washington — A new Congress is kicking off on Friday as Republicans take control of the House and Senate ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House later this month. And with their newfound control of both chambers, Republican leaders are touting a list of priorities that they aim to quickly address, notably immigration and taxes.
How exactly Republicans will proceed remains to be seen. Earlier this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson outlined plans to move the GOP agenda through the budget reconciliation process, which allows them to fast-track certain types of legislation and avoid the 60-vote threshold typically required in the Senate. But reconciliation is a complicated maneuver that comes with its own limitations on what can be included.
Johnson, who faces his own dicey speaker’s election on Friday, said a reconciliation package will be “the key of the first 100 days,” but he noted that it will require “a lot of coordination, planning and executing those plans with precision.”
“We are going to fix the border,” Johnson said on Fox News on Monday. “We are going to get the economy humming again. We are going to restore our stature on the world stage, get our energy policy fixed, make sure that we don’t have the largest tax cut in U.S. history imposed upon the American people at the end of next year when the tax cuts from the Trump era expire.”
The first days of the new Congress will be marked by the speaker’s election, which is required before the House moves on to other business, and the counting of the Electoral College votes on Monday, Jan. 6.
Congressional Republicans have touted their alignment on the issues, saying that they have a mandate from the American people to deliver on Trump’s “America First” agenda. Still, a unified vision of how to move forward with the priorities has appeared cloudy as the new Congress begins. And whether Republicans ultimately pursue one or two reconciliation bills remains a point of contention.
“We have a lot on our plate,” Johnson said. “But I’m confident we’re going to be able to get it done.”
Here’s where Republicans plan to start:
Immigration
Republicans have for months touted a plan, following Trump’s lead, to pursue a radical shift on immigration policy. The pledge became a key part of the president-elect’s campaign as he promised to target both unauthorized and legal immigrants with unprecedented measures, including mass deportations.
Many of the immigration proposals are expected to be implemented through executive orders. But Republican leaders in Congress have outlined plans to pursue parallel legislation that would surge resources to the southern border and continue construction of Trump’s border wall, while working to bolster Border Patrol and technology at the border.
On the timing of the legislation, Sen. John Thune, the incoming Senate majority leader, outlined that it “makes sense for us to move quickly” on immigration in an initial reconciliation package, paired with defense and energy provisions. This plan would leave economic measures such as addressing Trump’s expiring 2017 tax cuts for a later date.
“I think we can do both,” Thune said last month. “We’ve got an opportunity to have a couple of different chances at a reconciliation package that would achieve all of those objectives.”
In order to approve legislation using the reconciliation maneuver, lawmakers must first approve a budget resolution and direct committees to craft bills reconciling spending with the new budget goals. The final product can only include provisions dealing with taxes, spending or the debt limit, and any new spending must be paid for. The Senate parliamentarian must also sign off on the package, confirming that the provisions have direct budgetary consequences, if an item is challenged.
Stephen Miller, the incoming White House deputy chief of staff, said on Fox News in December that the plan is to put both a border security and tax package on a “fast track,” with a border package expected to reach Trump’s desk by January or early February. Miller said it would mark the “largest investment in immigration and border security” in history.
The leaders of the House Freedom Caucus have also weighed in, pushing in December for a standalone border package. The group of House conservatives argued in a letter to Johnson that it’s “imperative that we first send — in January — a focused and quick border reconciliation package that is fully offset.”
“President Trump’s agenda will be enacted, and border security must move first,” the group wrote, adding that a larger reconciliation package focused on “taxes, spending, energy, bureaucracy and more” should come second.
Taxes
By year’s end, key portions of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are set to expire. Republicans want to extend them, or even make them permanent.
Republicans are also aiming to build upon the tax cuts by strengthening existing provisions, including research and development costs that companies spend on innovation, and others that encourage domestic ownership of intellectual property. They may also pursue a child tax credit with work requirements, while addressing disagreements on state and local tax deductions.
Johnson acknowledged last month that the tax piece “can be very complicated,” prompting discussion about where it fits into the timeline.
The plan will rely on whether leadership can keep the House and Senate Republican conferences together. With 53 seats in the Senate, Republicans have room for just two defections under the budget reconciliation process. And in the House, with a likely 219-215 party breakdown, Republicans will also have little room for error — especially during the beginning of Trump’s term, when three seats will be vacated by lawmakers leaving to serve in the executive branch.
Meanwhile, House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith has advocated for one reconciliation package, arguing that pairing the tax provisions with the other policies would help it maneuver through the narrow House majority. Under either scenario, whether the party can stay together to pass the tax cut extensions, along with other key priorities, remains to be seen.
Despite possessing a GOP trifecta when Trump entered office in 2017, Republicans fell short of a number of goals in the early days of the administration due to infighting and disorganization. And a more recent fight over the government funding process in December suggests the party may still struggle to remain unified going forward.
Marc Short, a former legislative director under Trump, said on CNBC in December that the disagreement over government funding “foreshadows how difficult it’s going to be to pass any sort of extension of tax relief.” And he argued that Trump made an unforced error when he brought the debt ceiling into the conversation — an issue that will be in play in the new Congress.
Debt ceiling and government funding
Trump called for House Republicans to increase the debt ceiling, which limits how much the government can borrow to pay its bills, during the government funding fight in December. And although lawmakers approved a stopgap measure to keep the government funded into the spring, they couldn’t agree on the last-minute request to address the debt ceiling. Democratic leaders called the fight premature, and fiscal conservatives opposed raising the debt ceiling without spending reforms.
Though the debt ceiling isn’t among Republicans’ legislative priorities, it has major implications for the GOP’s ability to advance its agenda.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a letter to congressional leaders that the government will reach its borrowing limit sometime between Jan. 14 and 23. Once the limit is reached, the Treasury Department will implement so-called “extraordinary measures” to stave off a default on the government’s debt. The department will then estimate an “X date,” the point at which the government will be unable to pay its obligations.
In recent years, the debt limit has been used as a negotiating point in broader spending talks, dancing with a default that would have catastrophic implications for the global economy. Trump wanted the issue addressed before he takes office, imploring Republican lawmakers to suspend the debt ceiling or eliminate it entirely to deprive Democrats of leverage in upcoming spending fights under his watch.
Johnson told reporters as the spending fight came to a close last month that he planned to address the debt ceiling in January, when congressional Republicans look to clear the way for their legislative priorities.
Energy
Republicans are also aiming to address energy policy in their budget reconciliation plans, pledging to “unleash” domestic energy production by mandating lease sales, opening federal lands for drilling, easing energy permitting regulations and rolling back energy provisions of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Whether lawmakers pursue other energy priorities, like clean energy tax credits, remains to be seen.
The plan, billed as a way to increase the nation’s energy independence, comes amid a broader campaign pitch from Republicans to cut costs, while clawing back Democrats’ climate-centered policies.
Approving Cabinet nominees and other top administration roles
Trump has announced picks for dozens of Cabinet and top administration officials, many of whom will require Senate confirmation. While confirmation hearings can begin before Trump’s inauguration, the formal voting process can’t begin until Jan. 20, when the picks will become official nominations. The picks are then expected to monopolize the Senate’s schedule.
Thune has repeatedly pledged that Senate Republicans will work to swiftly approve Trump’s nominees after he takes office. Trump has threatened to make unilateral appointments where he can if the process stalls.
Still, a couple of Trump’s picks, like his selection for defense secretary in Pete Hegseth, have been controversial even among some Republicans, posing questions about their speedy confirmation.
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