President-elect Donald Trump is meeting with Senate Republicans Wednesday night on Capitol Hill, Punchbowl News reported.
The goal of the meeting is to develop a concrete plan to advance Trump's agenda on border security and tax cuts, as Trump has said he is open to passing one bill or breaking it up into two.
Republican senators told Punchbowl they can hear from Trump directly on which path he prefers. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Trump needs to be more forceful.
"President Trump gets MVP status for solving the speaker vote," Tillis said to Punchbowl. "And we're going to need him to play MVP on getting these bills done."
Other Republicans told Punchbowl that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., should make the call.
"I don't know why this is such a big deal," said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to Punchbowl. "We're going to work the will of the chambers. It's that simple."
Thune supports two bills, while Johnson favors one bill, Politico reported.
Supporters of passing two bills believe Republicans should pass legislation on the border and energy priorities quickly rather than getting bogged down by tax negotiations, Politico reported.
Supporters of passing one bill say it will be easier to pass tax cuts if they're in a larger package that includes border and energy, according to Politico.
Thune told Punchbowl he wants the meeting to be about "what's the best path forward for implementing [Trump's] agenda."
Johnson previously said he wants to address the debt limit as part of reconciliation, but Punchbowl reported there are doubts about whether House Republicans, who hold a slim majority, will be able to pass any reconciliation package that includes a debt-limit boost.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.