01/06/2025 --axios
President-elect Trump is set to visit Senate Republicans on Wednesday — after publicly siding with House Speaker Mike Johnson over how to pass major policy wins.Why it matters: The new GOP trifecta needs to get on the same page before the much harder decisions come due.Some Senate Republicans want to convince Trump that it's in his interest to divide his "one big, beautiful bill" into two separate packages.Trump has backed one strategy and then the other — he just wants to get it all done. In a Hugh Hewitt interview on Monday, Trump indicated he would be fine with two bills too.Between the lines: Wednesday's Senate GOP invite is a standing offer, we're told.Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) will host Trump at the upcoming meeting as policy chair and has made it clear he's welcome whenever he wants to come, according to a source familiar.Trump plans to join the Senate GOP at its 6pm ET meeting. He'll be in town for the late President Jimmy Carter's funeral.Zoom out: Some Republicans are agnostic on whether they should cram all their priorities into one massive package or move first on a border and deportation bill and then turn to tax legislation.Many are privately concerned that attempting to fit everything into one bill will condemn it to failure.Zoom in: Johnson, fresh off his squeaker of a speaker's victory, knows math isn't his friend when he's looking for 218 votes.He is convinced he needs to wrap all of Trump's priorities — from ending taxes on tips to increasing border funding — into one massive bill and then convince his colleagues to all hold hands together, listen to Trump ... and jump.Trump will host a series of House Republicans at Mar-a-Lago later this week, including members of the Freedom Caucus, people pushing to restore the SALT deduction and various committee chairs.What they're saying: Two of Trump's most frequent phone buddies — Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) — said nothing's set in stone."If we can get both of them done in one package, great, if we got to split them up, great," Mullin said. "All I'm saying is that I know that his Senate can deliver."I had multiple conversations with the president. He just wants it. He just wants the legislation to become permanent.""Whatever they think they can do over there [in the House] is what we need to do," Tuberville told us. "I think it could still go either way."The bottom line: Senate GOP leader John Thune tried to downplay the differing ideas, telling Punchbowl News the split over strategy is less important than the substance of what gets passed.But Trump and his Hill leaders have been clear they intend to move fast. A divide over mechanics could slow things down.The historically slim margins in the House could mean that Thune defers to Johnson based on what can pass the chamber.