Hill Republicans ready ambitious agenda as they hope for full sweep of Washington

By Sarah Ferris, Annie Grayer and Lauren Fox, CNN

(CNN) — Republicans on Capitol Hill are laying the groundwork to push through an ambitious agenda with President-elect Donald Trump if they have total control of Washington next January – a rare GOP trifecta that party leaders believe is now within reach.

And this time they’ll be prepared to use it.

Unlike Trump’s surprise win in 2016, House and Senate GOP leaders have been preparing for months for a possible GOP sweep. Their goal is to get to work quickly drafting big pieces of the Trump administration’s agenda, starting with a major economic package centered on taxes, energy policy, border security and deregulation, according to two people familiar with discussions.

“We have already started working on it because we realized how harmful a massive tax increase would be in 2026,” GOP Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CNN.

With Republicans winning control of the Senate, delivering on Trump’s agenda will come down to whether the GOP retains a majority in the House. CNN has not yet made a projection in the battle for control of the House, with votes still being counted in dozens of races. But key pickups in Pennsylvania and Michigan have party leaders hopeful that a full sweep is in sight and senior Republicans feel confident they will hold onto their slim majority.

Speaker Mike Johnson, who has consolidated power by promoting his closeness to Trump, has spoken directly with the president-elect many times about what they can accomplish in a GOP majority, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Johnson and his leadership team have spent months holding policy meetings with committee leaders and Senate stakeholders while preparing broad strokes of major legislation that they could muscle through Congress without Democratic votes — the same way President Joe Biden did with Democrats two years ago.

Even with unified GOP control, there would be challenges ahead for Republicans. One issue is the political math: House Republicans believe if they do hold onto the majority, it won’t be by much. Johnson — who would be expected to keep his position as speaker — would only have a few votes to spare. And their current, narrow majority, has been plagued by divisions and roadblocks.

But Trump will be returning to a Washington where both chambers will be stacked with his allies. The House GOP conference has become decidedly more “Trumpian” in the last four years as his grip over the party has grown stronger, as one Republican put it. And Trump’s victory — with the president-elect holding the popular vote lead — is also putting new weight behind his agenda in GOP circles.

“The Republican controlled Congress will do a much better job of governing under President Trump because we know he has a mandate from the most diverse group of Americans ever assembled,” GOP Rep. Tim Burchett told CNN.

Johnson formally launched his bid to keep his job as speaker on Wednesday in a letter sent to Republican lawmakers obtained by CNN. In the letter, Johnson laid out how House Republicans plan to work closely with Trump.

“To truly make America great again, we will need to begin delivering for the people on day one. In preparation, we have worked diligently for the past year to be ready with a priority list of key conservative policy wins that we can achieve together with our Senate Republican colleagues, working hand-in-hand with the new Trump Administration,” Johnson wrote.

In a sign of the backchanneling and direct communication between Trump’s orbit and congressional allies to come, two key Trump allies, Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon, are expected to brief Republicans in the coming days about the upcoming transition, one source familiar with the planning told CNN.

GOP leaders have been dreaming of another major tax package, as many tax provisions are set to expire at the end of 2025. Also on the table: potentially rolling back parts of President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping economic and climate bill that Democrats passed when they had unified government earlier in Biden’s first term, one source familiar with the discussions told CNN.

House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee have been meeting in working groups for months trying to iron out changes they would make to existing tax policy, Republican New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told CNN.

“It makes sense to start early and do our homework,” Malliotakis said.

The GOP messaging strategy – attacking Democrats over the cost of living, crime and the border – that has so far delivered wins in key House races across the country has also emboldened lawmakers to pursue an agenda focused on those issues.

“With a 53 or 54 seat majority, and a Republican majority in the House, you do whatever you can do,“ one Senate GOP aide told CNN about the plans underway for if the GOP wins full control.

Republicans also see an opening for other big-ticket items like the House GOP’s hardline immigration proposals that have been stalled since passing their chamber last year as Senate Democrats and the Biden White House had strongly opposed that plan.

But it wouldn’t be easy to clear a huge package through a narrowly divided House even if Republicans control all the levers of power. There are procedural hurdles, since Republicans would need to squeeze each piece of their legislation through the Senate’s wonky budget rules, which will limit how much policy unrelated to the budget they can actually pass.

Internally, Republicans are eying a strategy deployed by Democrats two years ago — Biden and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi held together a fragile coalition in Congress essentially by making sure there was something to like for everyone.

“We learned a lot of lessons from the Dems. How do you pass a major piece of legislation? Make sure everybody gets a bite,” one senior GOP aide put it.

“Dems showed how effective reconciliation can be. So I think you’re going to see a push to do something similar,” the aide said, referring to a procedural move that can allow lawmakers to bypass the 60-vote threshold typically required to move legislation forward in the Senate.

Johnson, if he maintains control of the House, will have plenty else to deal with in 2025 besides the tax deadline, including steering Congress away from a debt limit cliff, which could hit in early summer.

And there could be even more left-over items from this year’s lame-duck session. Congress still needs to confront deadlines for must-pass bills, like a year-end spending bill and the farm bill, a massive package of nutrition and agriculture programs.

Senate Republicans will also need to move rapidly in the new year to confirm Trump’s Cabinet and nominees, a process that could take considerable time.

Top of mind for Johnson and his GOP leadership team is the government funding fight.

Before the current Congress ends, Johnson will need to corral his razor-thin majority through the spending battle — which is set to happen just before Christmas — where Democrats will likely use the process as their last chance to nab any political wins if in fact Republicans hold onto the chamber.

It’s not clear yet whether Johnson would try to finish that spending bill during the lame duck — which would clear the decks for Trump’s incoming administration — or punt it until the next session of Congress when Republicans might control both chambers.

And some of his own members may be emboldened by Trump’s clear victory.

Another high-profile Trump ally, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, warned that Republicans who stood in Trump’s way in his first term will not have the runway to do so again.

“I will not let them and neither will the American people who have given us this amazing opportunity to save this country,” Greene posted on X.

CNN’s Danya Gainor contributed.

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