US House speaker to pursue 'one big bill' on Trump's tax agenda

Washington: The US House of Representatives speaker said on Sunday he would stick with a "one big bill" strategy to pass President Donald Trump's tax-cut agenda and fund border and military priorities, despite a limited $340 billion budget plan unveiled on Friday by Senate Republicans.

Mike Johnson told Fox News Sunday that it will take some time to secure a Republican consensus because of the party's thin House majority. But they would find savings to offset the cost of extending 2017 tax cuts that are due to expire at the end of the year and other priorities such as eliminating taxes on tips.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham unveiled a plan on Friday that would boost funding by $85.5 billion for four years for border security, deportations of migrants and for the military, leaving the extension of tax cuts to another bill later this year.

"Well, I talk with the president and his team about this almost constantly, reminding them that we will get the job done, but it has to be the one big bill strategy," Johnson said.

Johnson said the House Budget Committee had previously planned to consider the Republican budget resolution next week, but "we might push it a little bit further because the details really matter."

He said he needs to secure agreement among all House Republicans, who hold a razor-thin 218-215 majority in the chamber. The party plans to use a budget procedure that would allow them to pass fiscal legislation with only a simple Senate majority without any Democratic votes, so he cannot afford to lose more than one Republican vote.

Budget forecasters estimate that extending current individual tax rates would cost more than $4 trillion over a decade, with some estimates topping $11 trillion for Trump's full tax agenda.

Johnson said House Republicans are looking for offsetting savings and do not want to add to federal deficits.

"We're going to make sure that we find the offsets to do this in a responsible manner," Johnson said.