By Simon Kent
Cut taxes by trillions of dollars and complete the border wall. These are the top two highlights of what Senate and House Republicans reportedly envision for unified GOP control of the White House and Congress to deliver after a sweeping Donald Trump victory on November 5.
At least, that is the Republican plan.
A report by Alexander Bolton in The Hill sets out Republican leaders in both chambers are mapping out a possible agenda for Trump’s first 100 days back in the White House.
There is no shortage of goals ahead, with “a massive budget reconciliation package that would fulfill Trump’s promise of cutting taxes by trillions of dollars” in top position as Democrats in general and Kamala Harris in particular increasingly flail in pre-vote polling.
The report goes on to cite staff for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Senate GOP Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) as meeting to map out their agenda for 2025 if the Election Day is a runaway victory for their party, according to sources familiar with discussions who confided in Bolton.
The Hill report focuses on the immediate Trump agenda when he is back, stating:
GOP policymakers are looking at funding a major new border security initiative that would include completion of Trump’s signature border wall and possibly defunding parts of the government that Trump allies argue have become “weaponized” under the Biden administration.
But the top priority of Republican leaders in both chambers will be to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — Trump’s signature legislative achievement — before it expires at the end of 2025.
How far they go beyond that will be a subject of intense debate among Republican lawmakers in the months ahead, assuming that Trump defeats Vice President Harris and Republicans win back control of the Senate and keep their House majority.
The report concedes nothing is certain in politics until the last vote is counted, however preparations are being made by Republicans for a host of varying outcomes.
Split party control of Congress or the possibility that Democrats retain control of the White House are two of just many variations that lie ahead.
Republican lawmakers and aides, however, are growing increasingly confident the former president will defeat Harris based on an increasing number of poll results, the Hill notes.
Trump is now dead even with Harris in three states Democrats must win to keep control of the White House: Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, it adds.