Republicans drop reconciliation 2.0 outline to save $1.6 trillion
The Republican Study Committee unveiled a “reconciliation 2.0” blueprint that it says would save $1.6 trillion, but house and Senate GOP leaders are skeptical about passing another large reconciliation package before the 2026 midterms given razor-thin margins. Many house Republicans insist on acting while they still hold a trifecta, and RSC Chair August Pfluger called it “political malpractice” not to try. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and senate Majority Leader John Thune both tempered expectations, noting the need for broad GOP agreement and a clear rationale.the plan-about 70% drawn from bills already introduced or passed in the House-focuses on affordability, healthcare, and energy and includes measures such as eliminating the capital gains tax on primary home sales. Past reconciliation efforts faced Byrd Rule roadblocks in the senate, so the RSC says it used an AI tool trained on byrd Rule documents to try to produce compliant legislative text. Whether the package will advance remains uncertain amid internal GOP divisions and the narrow, possibly shrinking, majority.
Republican leaders temper expectations of pulling off reconciliation 2.0
A reconciliation 2.0 blueprint unveiled by the Republican Study Committee on Tuesday morning aims to save $1.6 trillion, but House and Senate GOP leaders are skeptical of the success of passing another “big, beautiful bill” before the 2026 midterm elections.
A large group of House Republicans is insistent that they move on a second reconciliation package this year while they still have a trifecta. The House historically flips to the party opposite the White House in the midterm elections, and recent polling and Democratic candidate recruitment show that Democrats have a path to flip both chambers of Congress this fall.
But GOP leadership in both chambers is not offering a full-throttle endorsement of a second package.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) tempered expectations for the ability to pass another bill, given the razor-thin margins. “I’d sure love to do one, but obviously, with a now one-seat majority, basically, it means we’ve all got to come together and agree on what that framework would look like,” he said Tuesday.
Scalise added that RSC put out “really good ideas that I love.” He said there will be meetings with different sects of Republicans to “see if there is a coalition to get a reconciliation bill.”
“There’s some things that didn’t make it through the Working Families Tax Cut that we’d like to go back to, but at the end of the day, you got to have the votes to pass it,” Scalise said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) also offered some skepticism about a second package, saying, “You don’t just put a reconciliation bill on the floor.”
“You actually have to have a specific reason to want to do it,” Thune said. “So we’ll figure out if there is one.”
RSC Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) said on Tuesday during a presser unveiling the RSC’s framework that it would be “political malpractice” not to pursue another reconciliation package.
A one-sheet framework given to reporters detailed that Democrats were able to pass two of their three reconciliation attempts during the first two years of the Biden administration, and “Republicans must seize the same opportunity to undo that damage.”
“We’ve got to get this done,” Pfluger said. “We know we have a narrow window of time. The American people gave us a mandate, and we are not going to stand idly by watching this time get passed.”
Republicans aim to make this package easier to pass than the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law on July 4, 2025, after months of contention. The GOP had since dubbed the “big, beautiful bill” with a new moniker, the “Working Families Tax Cut,” as a way to message the contents of the legislation more effectively amid the midterm election cycle.
Whether another reconciliation package will be successful this year remains to be seen.
The speaker has said previously that the GOP had “one planned for this fall” in 2025 and “one hopefully for next spring” in 2026. But the fall came and went with no movement on a package, and Republican leaders acknowledged last year that the appetite may not be there.
When asked if the speaker will use RSC’s specific plan for reconciliation, Pfluger said he remains hopeful that is the case.
“The speaker has said that he is moving forward with reconciliation 2.0. Of course, we would hope for a personal endorsement on this plan, but he is moving forward with the notion that we have to do this,” Pfluger said. “And I hope that those in the White House, obviously, including the president, who has said in the past that he believes reconciliation is a good idea, I hope that they take note of this plan and will continue to use this as a framework.”
Several rank-and-file Republicans have been skeptical that they can get another bill through the House, especially given the months it took to do the first one and a razor-thin majority that seems to be shrinking by the day.
A meeting between centrists and Johnson got heated at the end of last year, during which reporters heard Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) tell Johnson, “We are never getting a second reconciliation bill.” Johnson had responded, “Take those words out of your mouth.”
According to Pfluger, 70% of the RSC’s proposal comprises a number of bills that have already been introduced or passed in the House, which the chairman said are “savers.” The RSC did not provide specifics on where they will cut $1.6 trillion.
House affordability, healthcare, and energy are the crux of RSC’s framework, which is already shaping up to be a major factor in the 2026 election season. Among the proposals is a plan to axe the capital gains tax on primary home sales, which strategists have warned will not be enough to tackle the housing crisis alone.
In the first reconciliation package, Republicans were met with roadblocks after the Senate parliamentarian struck numerous proposals from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because they did not adhere to the Byrd Rule, which details what can and cannot be included in a reconciliation bill.
To avoid this, the RSC used an artificial intelligence tool that was trained on “thousands” of Byrd Rule documents “to generate compliant legislative text and preempt Democrat challenges.”
David Sivak contributed to this report.
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