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COVERING WHAT’S NEXT IN CONGRESS
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews
Correspondent
 
It’s a new year and new Congress. But some familiar, critical issues are ahead.
 
We want to start with a group huddle. Obviously, the next Trump term is front and center, but his biggest agenda items cannot happen without Congress.
 
So, we’d like to hear from you: How should we cover the next Congress?  
 
Would you like to see more on policy? On politics? The people on Capitol Hill? More process explanations? Any other words starting with “p”? (Or, of course, any letter!) Include any particular issues or lawmakers of interest.
 
Help us start on the right foot. Please send your thoughts to [email protected].
 
To kick things off, there are four things I’m watching as the 119th Congress gets underway.
 
1. The budget mountain
 
Trump has a big vision: One massive “beautiful bill” that combines tax cuts, the debt ceiling, immigration, a farm bill and everything else Republicans want.
 
The details for all of that will be tricky. But first, to pass something like this with just 53 Republicans in the Senate, Trump must get around the Senate’s 60-vote requirement using the budget procedure — some of you can say it with me — **reconciliation.**
 
But to do that, Republicans in both chambers must agree on a budget for the government.
 
While Trump boasts about constructing things “under budget, ahead of schedule,” Congress more often than not passes no budget and extends their own deadlines.
 
Add to that: Republicans will have a single-vote margin in the House for the first months of this Congress. And clearly, they have active disagreements over budgeting. (I will be closely watching the Freedom Caucus members who sent a warning to Speaker Mike Johnson last week.) I also spoke with a Democratic ranking committee member yesterday who openly laughed at the idea that Republicans can get a budget together quickly. We’ll see.
 
2. Confirmation fights
 
This is an obvious one.
 
Trump has several controversial nominees who have survived their first challenge: press coverage and general public debate. But they now face their next, and perhaps most important, test: committee hearings.
 
I’ll be spending the next few days researching, checking with sources and preparing. (That includes Robert F. Kennedy’s book about health care, Dr. Anthony Fauci and government.) 
 
Hearings start next week with testimony set for defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, agriculture secretary nominee Brooke Rollins, among others.

3. Trump, Thune and the Senate schedule
 
Trump has an ardent loyalist in Johnson. (The speaker frequently travels with and appears in photos with and behind Trump.)
 
But Senate leader John Thune has had a rockier history with Trump, including openly calling on him to leave the 2016 race. They patched things up earlier this year after Thune endorsed Trump. But the South Dakota Republican is known as far more of an institutionalist than Trump. Thune has made it clear he will attempt to smoothly thread this needle, but he is one to watch closely.
 
This includes the Senate itself. I invite you to look at this calendar, which Thune has set for the chamber. I’ve covered the Senate a long time, but have never seen this aggressive of a work schedule. (Yes, five-day work weeks in Washington are unusual for lawmakers, in part so they can get back home and in part because they simply have gotten used to it.)
 
4. The issues
 
This is by no means comprehensive, but to start:

• Immigration. This includes border security, deportations, asylum policy and migrants who have temporary legal status or recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program
• U.S. foreign policy. This includes Ukraine funding, China policy, and tariffs
• Social issues. This includes transgender rights and abortion
• But wait, there’s more! Internet policy affecting speech, internet policy affecting children, cryptocurrencies, drug prices, potential spending cuts, changes for or limits on federal workers (let us know if you are one!), environmental and drilling policy, Social Security, Medicare, the justice system and, of course, anything to do with the debt or deficit.  

It is a classic firehose of pivotal decisions and issues. Stay tuned!