The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives said Sunday he is pushing an “aggressive” timetable for a multibillion-dollar bill dealing with immigration, tax cuts and more be submitted to Donald Trump’s desk by April, within his first 100 days in office.
Speaker Mike Johnson and his fellow Republicans in Congress are eager to help the new president implement his campaign promises, including unprecedented spending on border security, business deregulation, increased production of energy and the raising of the American debt ceiling.
But with a razor-thin new majority in the House of Representatives and equally narrow margins in the Senate, Democratic opposition could thwart the efforts.
Johnson said he strategized with Trump to combine several priorities into one gigantic bill that could pass Congress under the rules of so-called reconciliation.
Such a tool allows budget-related bills to be approved by the 100-member Senate with a simple majority, rather than the usual threshold of 60 votes.
“We can put it all together, one big vote up or down, that can literally save the country, because there are so many pieces to it,” Johnson told Fox News.
“That’s why we’re going to be so aggressive in getting this passed in the first 100 days,” he said.
Johnson said he aims to get an initial House vote on the bill as early as April 3. He envisioned it would then be approved by the Senate and signed into law by the end of the month.
According to Johnson, the bill would include funding to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and deport 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 megabill would “restore American dominance in energy,” extend tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term and cut red tape “that has stifled our free market.”
He also pledged to include a provision expanding U.S. borrowing authority.
The United States regularly faces legal constraints to pay bills already incurred, and Congress is called upon to either formally raise the debt ceiling or suspend it.
A suspension of the debt ceiling set by lawmakers in 2023 ended this month, and the country could reach that ceiling by June.
During December budget negotiations in Congress, Trump insisted that the debt ceiling be raised or even eliminated altogether, but he was unsuccessful.
Johnson on Fox defended the apparent paradox of wanting to raise the government borrowing limit while boasting about seeking to reduce the deficit.
“We are the team that wants to reduce expenses,” he said. “But we must raise the debt ceiling on paper so as not to scare the bond markets and the global economy.”
