GOP leaders' aides meet to talk reconciliation

Aides to congressional Republican leaders met Monday afternoon to start hammering out plans for partisan spending legislation that would allow them to bypass Democrats while enacting President-elect Donald Trump’s economic agenda, including massive tax cuts, two people with direct knowledge of the talks said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson's staff huddled with those of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and McConnell’s successor, Sen. John Thune, according to the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

The meeting is another sign that the new Republican-controlled Congress is determined to act swiftly on Trump's agenda once he takes the oath of office.

Most bills need a supermajority to pass the Senate. But a process known as budget reconciliation allows lawmakers to pass a limited number of spending-related bills using only a simple majority.

Republicans’ control of the House, Senate and White House next year will enable them to use the tactic to enact proposals that won’t attract bipartisan support — the same way Democrats did the last time they held the trifecta — like extending expiring Trump-era tax cuts. They've been strategizing how to do so since earlier this year.

But there are still several outstanding questions, from how long it would take to put together a plan to what to include. Some GOP priorities recently outlined by Scalise — like funding the border wall, overhauling energy project permitting, and boosting immigration enforcement — could be a stretch, since reconciliation requires policies to have a "direct" impact on the federal budget.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misidentified participants in the meeting. The meeting was between congressional Republican leaders' staff members.