Business

Trump urges House GOP to adopt Senate budget

by Cristina Marcos - 10/22/17 6:58 PM ET

President Trump on Sunday pressed House Republicans to adopt their Senate counterparts’ budget so that they can start moving tax-reform legislation.

In a conference call with House Republicans, Trump and GOP leaders said that agreeing to the Senate budget swiftly would help get the process moving faster.

{mosads}Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has said he wants the House to pass a tax bill in November, with a goal of enacting it into law by the end of the year.

“We are on the verge of doing something very, very historic,” Trump said, according to a GOP source.

Vice President Pence was also on the call, the GOP source noted.

The House budget would provide for $203 billion in mandatory spending cuts that conservatives pushed for, which the Senate version does not. GOP senators adopted their budget on Thursday, which would allow the Republican tax plan to add up to $1.5 trillion to the deficit over a decade.

If House Republicans don’t accept the Senate version, they would have to form a conference committee to iron out the differences between the two budgets. That would likely consume weeks, leaving less time for Republicans to produce and consider a tax bill by year’s end.

House Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black (R-Tenn.) told lawmakers on the call that she supports passage of the Senate budget this week to get tax reform moving faster.

Senators included an amendment before passage of their budget that adopts procedural and technical language from the House version, in an attempt to appease their counterparts in the lower chamber.

Following his Sunday call with the House GOP, Trump is set to meet with Senate Republicans on Tuesday at the Capitol to discuss the fall agenda.

Once Republicans settle on a budget, the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee is expected to release a bill that adheres to its outlines.

Republicans are seeking to use the budget to unlock a procedure known as reconciliation that will allow them to pass a tax bill without Democratic votes.

Tags Diane Black Paul Ryan