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Republicans in Congress have a narrow window to win big: if the House GOP can stick together and agree Budget decision With the GOP in the Senate and President-elect Trump, every employer and employee in America will have a huge win by the end of February: an extension of the Trump tax cuts.
But the debate among Republicans now is whether they should go wide or narrow. It now seems that the Republican Party in Congress is heading towards the wide gate. What a gamble. What a big bet. What an unnecessary risk.
If the GOP can get its majority together, it will be able to pass not one but two budget reconciliation packages by the beginning of the summer. This would allow more time to improve the tax package, which is admittedly complex.
But they can get more than 70% of the tax package right now, along with major hikes on the border and rebuilding our military. There is a lot of disagreement among Republicans about some of the finer details of the IRS code, and that means there are difficult negotiations ahead on some provisions of the tax code. But the cliche should be: Perfect should not be the enemy of good. This is what is happening now.
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If for any reason Republican Party majority in the House of Representatives The fractions — and the majority are so narrow that those causes that destroy the majority will arrive like ubiquitous Beltway pollen in April — the second settlement will not cross the line and the massive tax increase will hit every business in America on January 1, 2026.
Small businesses need certainty more than anything else. They cannot be sure of the effectiveness of marketing or the best product mix. But they definitely need certainty about the tax code. So do retirees who are looking at withdrawals from their savings. So do large companies looking to make huge investments in manufacturing or data facilities. All of these decisions are on hold until Congress provides the people they represent with certainty about at least most of the IRS law.
House GOP fiscal hawks warn Trump's tax cuts are at risk of expiring under new Senate-backed plan
It would be beneficial for President-elect Trump to demand “all of the above” in the first reconciliation. Some members of Congress are listening to Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller's demand for immediate legislative action on the border, and are mistaking that consistent, coherent message as “only the border matters.” Miller is absolutely right to continue to press the need for full authorization and funding to complete the wall, and expand Border Patrol and ICE facilities and authorities – 100%.
But so is Miller no Saying that the president-elect wants only Border and immigration provisions in the first budget reconciliation package. In addition to the provisions on borders and rebuilding the military, Trump promised to extend and review the tax cuts he approved. He must fulfill this pledge, which in effect unlocks the economic renaissance and productivity gains the country needs to calm inflation, lower interest rates, and boost real economic growth.
The US Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., United States, on December 2, 2024. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The country's private sector needs certainty Tax code. As quickly as possible, and as much as possible. Trump wants a second Trump boom, the kind of economy he presided over before the coronavirus ground the world to a halt for two years.
That's all well and good, but the Republican Party in Congress is reluctant to demand the discipline to do it all now. It's the biggest gamble I've seen since Leader McConnell announced there would be no hearings and no votes on any nominee to replace Justice Scalia after the great man died unexpectedly in early 2016.
McConnell rightly felt that the direction of the Supreme Court was a critical issue, and that Americans cared deeply about our basic trust in the Constitution as written and amended. McConnell made a big bet, which Trump saw and provoked by releasing his list of potential nominees during 2016, which Barack Obama miscalled the nomination of Merrick Garland. Trump and McConnell (and the Constitution) won.
But now, the GOP majority in Congress is sending signals of timidity in the face of enormous opportunity. Senators and Representatives need to focus and execute to achieve a massive win right now. Not just border bills. And not just rebuilding the army. But tax cuts, and much more.
A view of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., United States, on November 4, 2024. Anthony Brandesi served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Nicholas Economou/Noor Photo via Getty Images)
It is a rare moment of opportunity for free markets and free people. But Congress must seize the opportunity and pass a big bill, a huge, game-changing bill. Fortune favors the bold, and so does the 2026 election. Want to maintain and grow the Republican Party's majority? Unleash the American businessman sooner rather than later (or not at all if bad things happen to the small majority in the House).
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Trump will get his nominees. He can get everything he asks for in the first budget and reconciliation. Hopefully, the transition team will allow time for the president-elect to speak with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Thune to clarify his “must-haves.” Developer Trump will know that opportunities are fleeting. Hopefully, it will convince the GOP to act as if its majority will disappear by April. Because it could be.
The ghost of Jim Jeffords should be haunting both sides of the hill by now. And if you don't get that signal, you won't understand why there's real urgency right now.
Hugh Hewitt is the host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” heard weekday mornings from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on the Salem News Channel. Hugh is waking up America on over 400 affiliates across the country, and on all streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. An Ohio native and graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a professor of law at Chapman University's Fowler School of Law since 1996, where he teaches constitutional law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has appeared frequently on every major national television news network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major U.S. newspaper, authored dozens of books and ran a host of Republican programs. Candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-2016 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and column on the Constitution, national security, American politics, and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests, from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over 40 years of broadcasting, and this column explores the key stories that will drive his radio/TV show today.
