A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Republicans in Congress are closer to passing key elements of President Trump's legislative agenda, such as extending tax cuts that expire at the end of the year. The Senate passed a budget framework in the very early hours on Saturday, but they came back to D.C. yesterday already at odds with some of their House counterparts. All this as they eye a scheduled two-week recess. Joining us is NPR congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt. So, Barbara, the drama between Republicans in the House and Senate is over that budget framework, which just kicks everything off. So why is that important?
BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Well, Congressional Republicans want to use a budget tool called reconciliation, which both parties have used in the past, and that makes it easier to pass legislation in the Senate. Instead of 60 votes, it only needs a simple majority. And they want to use that to extend those expiring tax cuts from President Trump's first administration, adjust energy policy, cut federal spending and increase spending on defense and border security. But in order to do all that, they first have to adopt a budget framework. And that framework directs various committees to change spending or deficit levels by a certain amount, and then each committee writes a bill to hit that target, and then the budget committee puts them all together into one big bill.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, so then what happens now?
SPRUNT: Well, House Speaker Mike Johnson wants the House to vote on it as soon as tomorrow. Both chambers have to approve the same resolution in order to move forward in the process.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, something tells me you're about to say, but, wait, it's not that simple.
SPRUNT: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: So why do I have that feeling? Because it's not that simple?
SPRUNT: (Laughter) Well, it's not our first rodeo. And people understandably may think, but, wait, you know, Republicans control the House and the Senate. Won't they just agree to the same framework in order to implement, you know, President Trump's agenda? Bada bing, bada boom, it breezes on by. But that ignores some pretty big differences in philosophy between what the Senate has proposed and what the House proposed even earlier. And almost immediately after the Senate passed this resolution over the weekend, various House Republicans said they would not vote for it.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, why not?
SPRUNT: It comes down to numbers. What the Senate passed has bigger tax cuts and smaller spending cuts than the House's framework. It also calls for a larger increase in the debt limit. So fiscal conservatives don't like this. There's also some critique about the type of accounting the Senate is using for extending the tax cuts. Their model assumes it costs nothing to do that. Independent assessments say it actually costs around $4 trillion to do that. House Budget Committee chairman Jodey Arrington called the Senate's version, quote, "unserious and disappointing." He said it creates more in new costs than it does in enforceable cuts. And there's other tension points here at work, as well. The House version includes instructions for a committee to reduce the deficit by some $800 billion, which policy experts say can only be achieved by taking an axe to Medicaid, something that some Republican senators already say they will not support.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, I know House Republicans don't have a lot of votes they can afford to lose. So what's leadership saying?
SPRUNT: That's right. Well, Johnson is meeting this morning with the conference, and he'll make the pitch that if the House approves this, it won't stop them from achieving their goals in the final bill. He said he'll make it clear to the Senate and the White House that that final bill has to include historic spending reductions in order for the House to support it. Johnson wants to get this to President Trump's desk by Memorial Day. One thing I'm watching is whether the president does some outreach to members this week who are thinking about voting no. He's been very vocal on social media in support of the Senate resolution and has certainly stepped up to whip support for his priorities before with the House. So we shall see.
MARTÍNEZ: Bada bing, bada boom. That's NPR's Barbara Sprunt. Thanks a lot.
SPRUNT: Thank you.
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