INTERVIEW: President Trump explains his reconciliation priorities: DHS funding & voter integrity
“Congress is going to get [a second reconciliation] done,” President Donald Trump told the Washington Reporter in his latest interview.
While Congress continues to debate levels of funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid ongoing efforts by Senate Democrats to keep the government partially shut down, Trump is already looking ahead to the next funding battle.
“The Republicans are going to get it done,” Trump said of a second reconciliation. For months, the possibility of a second reconciliation, as well as its potential contents, have been unknown.
While many politicians and policy analysts have speculated that a second reconciliation could include sweeping tax, healthcare, or other domestic policy changes, President Trump told the Reporter that his priorities for the second reconciliation are voter ID and proof of citizenship–core elements of the SAVE America Act.
“Everyone ultimately wants to see voter ID, proof of citizenship.” he said. “We’ll get there.”
“You start off with a little bit, and then it ends up being broader,” he noted, when describing how the bill could expand from funding DHS to including provisions of the SAVE America Act.
A Senate Republican source told the Reporter, “President Trump is absolutely right to keep this focused on getting DHS funded, paying our ICE and TSA agents, and trying to get as much election integrity done as possible. While there are many conservative leaders calling for provisions like further PBM reform, broadening this to tax and healthcare policy would stop us from getting 50 votes.”
President Trump’s clear goal to get DHS funding and core elements of the SAVE AMe
On Capitol Hill, the Republican Study Committee (RSC), led by Rep. August Pfluger (R., Texas) has been pushing for a second reconciliation package since at least January 13.
An RSC source noted to the Reporter that the group has been “laser focused on making the American Dream affordable again, while also codifying more Trump Executive Orders.” The RSC’s previous legislative priorities have complemented the Trump White House’s pushes on housing affordability in particular.
House Republicans have told the Reporter for weeks that, should there be a second reconciliation, it could be an opportunity to address various aspects of domestic policy. The first package, known as the One Big, Beautiful Bill (OBBB), included most of the GOP’s signature legislative priorities, and now Trump wants Congress to send another one to his desk so that Republicans across the country can campaign on it ahead of November’s midterms.