Thune’s power move to advance Trump’s agenda

Senate Republicans announced Wednesday they are muscling ahead with their preferred legislative strategy to jumpstart Donald Trump’s agenda — just hours after the president himself backed a much different approach.

Senate Republicans announced Wednesday they are muscling ahead with their preferred legislative strategy to jumpstart Donald Trump’s agenda — just hours after the president himself backed a much different approach. That power move by Senate Majority Leader John Thune is setting up a dramatic clash with House Speaker Mike Johnson when the House returns next week, and possibly with Trump himself, as party leaders attempt to deliver the White House’s ambitious policy goals despite a historically narrow margin in Congress. And it comes with high stakes: Both chambers must agree on an identical approach to unlock the special powers that allow Trump to pass his agenda without the threat of the Senate filibuster — all while facing critical looming deadlines, such as the expiration of Trump’s tax cuts later this year. “President Trump prefers one big, beautiful bill. So do I, but you always have a plan B around here,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. “I am pulling for the House to pull it together and get one big, beautiful bill, but it’s gotta be consistent with President Trump’s tax agenda. Right now the tax agenda is to make the tax cuts permanent, and the House bill doesn’t do that.” Thune declared Wednesday he plans to move ahead this week with plans to complete part one of Trump’s agenda — a budget that directs the Senate to pass border security and energy production — even as Trump himself weighed in to back the House GOP’s far more sweeping approach, which has a slew of plans to pass tax breaks, a temporary debt limit hike and trillions in cuts to federal programs. House Republicans have said they need to cram everything into a single bill or risk missing key deadlines, like the one for tax reform or the spring debt limit. But Senate GOP leaders have said the priority should be to deliver Trump a win and money for his priorities quickly. The internal GOP dispute, which has been raging for months now, is over more than just tactics: It’s a sign of the anxiety by many Republicans, particularly in the Senate, that Trump’s full agenda may not pass the famously-erratic House. And it’s becoming an early test of how the Hill GOP’s relatively green leadership — Thune and Johnson — can corral their razor-thin majorities to work with an emboldened Trump and his aggressive plans to transform Washington.