House Republican Leadership Floats Fourth Reconciliation Bill

The potential package could delay the politically messy fight over how to pay for the third package’s spending.

Speaker Mike Johnson

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s conference unveiled a third party-line package Wednesday, but the chamber’s Republican leadership is already looking ahead to another. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

House Republican leadership has floated to members a fourth — yes, fourth — reconciliation package they would aim to bring to the floor after the November midterms.

While the plans have no guaranteed path to success and may not become a formal proposal, House Republicans are discussing them internally, Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Alabama) and Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said Wednesday.

This Congress has leaned heavily on the party-line reconciliation process that allows legislation to clear the Senate with a simple majority, as Republicans have struggled to pass their legislative agenda. Typically, Congress would pass one or two of these types of budget packages through the reconciliation process — making this Congress an outlier.