The Albany Gazette - Top US Republican eyes swift passage of Trump priority mega-bill

Speaker Mike Johnson and fellow congressional Republicans are eager to help the incoming president enact his campaign promises, including unprecedented border security spending, business deregulation, boosting energy production and raising the US debt ceiling.

But with a new razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives and similarly tight Senate margins, Democratic opposition could stymie the efforts.

Johnson said he has strategized with Trump about combining several priorities into one gigantic piece of legislation that could move through Congress under rules of so-called reconciliation.

Such a tool allows budget-related bills to clear the 100-member Senate with a simple majority, rather than a typical 60-vote threshold.

"We can put it all together, one big up-or-down vote, which can save the country, quite literally, because there are so many elements to it," Johnson told Fox News.

"That's why we're going to be so aggressive about getting this through in the first 100 days," he said.

Johnson said he aimed to have an initial House vote on the bill as early as April 3. He envisioned it then clearing the Senate and being signed into law by month's end.

According to Johnson, the bill would include funding for securing the US-Mexico border and deporting undocumented immigrants.

Trump focused much of his 2024 presidential campaign on immigration and, after his victory in November, said he could use the military to deport millions of people.

Johnson also said the mega-bill would "restore American energy dominance," extend tax cuts enacted during Trump's first term, and slash red tape "that has smothered our free market."

He also pledged to include a provision extending US borrowing authority.

The United States routinely runs up against a legal constraint on paying for bills already incurred, and Congress is called upon to either formally raise the debt ceiling or suspend it.

A suspension of the debt limit reached by lawmakers in 2023 ended this month, and the country could bump up against the ceiling by June.

During December budget negotiations in Congress, Trump insisted the debt ceiling be raised or even eliminated altogether, but he was unsuccessful.

Johnson on Fox defended the apparent paradox of wanting to increase the limit on government borrowing while boasting of seeking to reduce the deficit.

"We're the team that wants to cut spending," he said. "But you have to raise the debt limit on paper so that we don't frighten the bond markets and the world's economy."

(C.Young--TAG)