Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) has led his colleagues in both the Senate and the House, such as Representatives Chip Roy (R-TX) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ), in a reconciliatory letter to incoming party leaders: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA).
The letter outlines a two-step process for the Republican chamber leaders of the 119th Congress to work with fellow Republicans to advance the Trump-backed America First agenda. It opens with a statement saying that the leaders have a "responsibility" to aid President-elect Donald Trump (R).
"Following President Trump’s decisive victory, House and Senate Republicans now have a responsibility to do everything we can to help the President fulfill the promises he made to the American people. One of those promises was to secure our borders and restore the integrity of our nation’s immigration system after four years of President Biden’s open border policies," said lawmakers Scott, Roy, Biggs, and others to the party leaders.
They continued, "That is why we believe it is critical that we prioritize the prompt passage of a border security focused reconciliation bill. Mindful that our slim majority in the House and the filibuster in the Senate means that success is far from guaranteed, we believe that a two-step reconciliation process gives us the best chance of securing passage of this transformational border security legislation."
Furthermore, Scott and other's letter outlines the policies necessary to reconcile the party leaders and the fiscally conservative members of the GOP in the U.S. government. It reads:
With this goal in mind, we believe that the first reconciliation bill introduced in the 119th session should:
- Provide four years of funding to: 1) Complete and strengthen the border wall started during President Trump’s first term as President. 2) Hire thousands of additional Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in order to effectively secure the border and apprehend and remove migrants who have entered the U.S. illegally. 3) Ensure a substantial increase in the number of ICE and CBP detention and short-term holding facilities.
- Encourage self-deportation by imposing significant financial penalties on aliens illegally in the United States.
- Limit, and in most instances eliminate, a non-citizen’s ability to apply for and receive taxpayer-funded welfare benefits.
- Not only be fully offset with real mandatory spending cuts – not relying on spending reductions that President Trump will make through executive action – but also achieve deficit reduction with additional spending cuts at a level the conferences require and are realistic for passage.
Finally, the letter calls on Leader-elect Thune and Speaker Johnson to reinstate the Trump tax cuts by Jan. 1, 2026, and repeal the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act.
"There are obviously many details to be worked out, but we are committed to helping both of you gain the support and passage of these budget reconciliation packages in the House and Senate," the letter concludes.
