Republicans Return to Congress With Big Legislative Ambitions — And Big Vote Problems

Republicans have a firm timeline they want to hit for reconciliation. The only problem is they’re starting to write the legislation now without agreements between different factions.

Mike Johnson

Speaker Mike Johnson praises President Donald Trump at a news conference at the Capitol. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Congressional Republicans have navigated a barely existent House majority, intrachamber political jockeying and President Donald Trump’s whims to clear the first challenge of reconciliation: adopting a budget.

Now they’re staring down a new challenge: the calendar.

Republicans have teed up a behemoth agenda between now and their Fourth of July recess. There’s the rescissions package to enshrine DOGE’s cuts into law. There’s next year’s spending bills that Republicans are already falling behind on. And, most crucial of all, there’s the massive reconciliation bill.