Our sources on Capitol Hill have given us some highlights from President-elect Donald Trump’s closed-door meeting with Republican Senators and the key takeaway is that he is more committed than ever to his “one big beautiful bill” strategy.
According to reports, the President-elect engaged in a lengthy back and forth with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and a key player in crafting the upcoming Trump legislative package.
Republican senators, including Graham, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and John Hoeven of North Dakota laid out the case for moving first on a package including border security, energy provisions and defense.
They argued it would be better to pass these priorities as quickly as possible before getting bogged down on the complex task of extending the expiring 2017 Trump tax cuts.
Senator Graham has been outspoken in his belief that border security must be the first priority of the new Republican trifecta, telling Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, that Republicans pushing for tax cuts first that securing the nation's borders must be the priority or else they are "playing Russian roulette with our national security."
But, according to reporting by Alexander Bolton and Al Weaver of The Hill, Trump firmly expressed his preference for Congress to pass the main pieces of his agenda in one bill, siding with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who thinks that approach will give him more leverage over rogue members of his conference.
"I'm very worried that if we don't put border first and get it done, it's going to be a nightmare for our national security. We've got millions of illegal immigrants that President Trump has promised to deport, and he should."
He added: "That cost 100 billion dollars. I'm willing to offset the 100 billion with cuts in other places, but there's no way in hell Democrats are going to give us 100 billion dollars for mass deportation."
Graham warned that "every day we delay is a dangerous day for America," citing the fentanyl crisis and threats of terrorism.
"I want the tax cuts. They're 4.7 trillion dollars. They will ruin the economy if they expire at the end of the year. I will try to be a team player here. But I want to tell the American people, from my point of view, the number one job is to secure the nation for the federal government," the senator added, according to Newsweek’s transcript of the program.
Representative Jason Smith, Senator Graham’s counterpart as Chairman of the House Budget Committee, told Bartiromo on Fox Business' Mornings with Maria on December 11, "We need a reconciliation bill that has border, energy, permitting and tax. You put all four of those things together, we can deliver on that. In fact, in the House, we have been working for months, Maria, in preparation for this large omnibus bill. We need to deliver this win as early as possible to President Trump."
However, during yesterday’s meeting the harder Graham pushed for two bills, one Republican senator in the room said Trump “repeatedly” expressed his preference for moving one bill.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune eventually beseeched Trump to remain open to the idea of moving two bills under the budget reconciliation — a maneuver that bypasses the Senate filibuster and would allow Republicans to pass the bills without Democratic votes — and the president-elect said he would keep an open mind but still expressed his preference for one bill.
The Capitol Switchboard is (202-224-3121), call your Senators and Representative TODAY to demand that they support President Trump’s “one big beautiful bill” strategy on border security, tax cuts, energy security and regulatory relief.
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