Over a dozen House Republicans are banding together to urge the party to pass a second sweeping reconciliation bill to further codify President Donald Trump’s agenda ahead of the midterms.
As the SAVE America Act stalls in the Senate, the group of lawmakers is turning to the conservative Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) preexisting framework for reconciliation policies. Unlike most pieces of legislation, the megabill requires a simple majority to pass and some lawmakers — including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson — see it as the best step forward to accomplish more of the president’s priorities while the Republicans hold both houses of Congress.
“The DHS [Department of Homeland Security] shutdown and the stall on the SAVE America Act have removed any doubt: there is not a single Democrat vote waiting for us in the Senate,” Republican Texas Rep. August Pfluger, Chair of the RSC, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive statement. “We have no path to 60, and we cannot afford to wait. Democrats did not hesitate to use their trifecta to push through two reconciliation bills, and neither should we.”
Johnson has long been optimistic about a second reconciliation bill and discussed the possibility with House Republicans at their yearly policy retreat Tuesday. There is still pushback within the party over whether the bill can be passed amid the razor-thin GOP House majority and rapidly approaching midterms, but some lawmakers are pointing to the framework that the RSC released in January 2026 as conversations about the legislation pick up speed.
“Speaker Johnson is right that this bill does not have to be as big to be just as beautiful, and the RSC framework gives us exactly the foundation we need to move,” Pfluger added in his statement.
The RSC’s megabill outline includes policy priorities such as homeownership, affordable healthcare, energy independence and economic security. Multiple other proposals were made during the retreat such as including supplemental funding for the U.S. military as the war with Iran continues and legislation to target fraud in blue states. The committee has also built an artificial intelligence (AI) tool trained to scan Byrd Rule documents and generate compliant legislative text to preempt Democratic challenges.
There is also interest in a second megabill among senators.
Some members in the upper chamber, such as Republican Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma and John Kennedy of Louisiana, are intrigued by the possibility of using reconciliation to tackle issues they feel have gone unanswered for too long.
“There’s a lot of fraud issues I’d love to be able for us to address that have been lingering out there for a very long time,” Lankford told the DCNF about additional policies in another reconciliation bill. “We can’t ever seem to get a vote to be able to resolve that.”
Even some House and Senate Democrats have refused to rule out the potential need for supplemental funding for the conflict in Iran, and multiple Republicans in the upper chamber told the DCNF they would support providing the funding through another reconciliation bill.
“Reconciliation gives Republicans a powerful opportunity to deliver real relief for American families, and we intend to use it,” Republican Virginia Rep. Ben Cline, RSC Vice-Chair, said in a statement to the DCNF.
Trump reportedly did not mention reconciliation once during his hour-long speech at the retreat despite Johnson’s push for it. Trump instead called on Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act, even if the process takes the remainder of the current Congress. Some members, however, see focusing solely on the voter ID legislation as a wasted opportunity to pass the president’s agenda, and are itching to use the legislative tool ahead of the midterms.
Nevertheless, some lawmakers still hope the Trump-backed election integrity bill might make it through the Senate despite the mounting challenges of using the talking filibuster to pass it.
“We must turn the rest of President Trump’s America First agenda into law. Lower costs, more housing, expanded opportunities, and making the American Dream affordable again,” Republican Missouri Rep. Mark Alford said in a statement to the DCNF. “Most importantly, we must get the SAVE America Act across the finish line. We can’t wait, America deserves results today.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Monday that he has discussed another reconciliation bill with Johnson and they are having conversations with “relevant committee chairs and our members to see what types of ideas they have for a potential reconciliation bill.”
Other Republicans still feel the need for steep cuts to pay for another bill, such as the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Brett Guthrie and Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.
“Reconciliation is our most powerful tool to end wasteful spending and stop heaping debt on our children,” Republican California Rep. Tom McClintock said in a statement to the DCNF. “Republicans can and must push this powerful tool as far as it can possibly go.”
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
