Reporter’s Notebook: How the House is technically done with the ‘big, beautiful bill’

Expect the House of Representatives to make ‘technical corrections’ to President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ Wednesday.

But if you blink, you might miss it.

Senate Republicans are now in the middle of the ‘Byrd Bath’ with Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. This is a process, named after late Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to exclude provisions from budget reconciliation packages that don’t comport with special Senate budget rules. 

The Senate must use this special process to avoid a filibuster.

Some items in the House bill don’t fit into the bill under those special budget rules. So, they are tossing them out. But the House must essentially alter the bill and send it back to the Senate.

The House will embed those changes into a ‘rule’ Wednesday to tee up the spending cancellations bill to trim money for USAID and public broadcasting for debate and a vote on Friday.

So, the ‘altered’ bill, with the technical corrections, goes back to the Senate.

‘I think it’s going to be nothing that was unexpected. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said.

‘I’m trying to defend my product that was sent over there. As you all know, it took a long time to get that balance.’