The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Week of May 19, 2025

Passing One Big, Beautiful Bill to Advance President Trump’s Agenda and Deliver for Americans

House Republicans began preparing for budget reconciliation more than a year ago – this week, we will deliver President Trump's America First Agenda using the reconciliation process. That process includes two main steps: 1) passing a budget resolution that unlocks the committees' ability to develop legislation that meets certain objectives, and 2) the implementing reconciliation legislation. Since passing the budget resolution earlier this year, committees have been hard at work drafting the reconciliation bill that will deliver President Trump’s America First agenda and the promises House Republicans made to the American people.
 
President Trump's One Big, Beautiful Bill prevents the largest tax hike in history on American families and job creators; reestablishes American energy dominance by unleashing domestic production; secures the southern border and delivers much needed resources to carry out the President's immigration agenda; restores Peace through Strength, and secures historic spending reductions while protecting essential programs. 

Additionally, the legislation will save the average American family $1,700 – the equivalent of 9 weeks of groceries; increase real annual take-home pay for a median-income household with two children by around $4,000 to $5,000; and raise annual real wages by about $2,100 to $3,300 per worker.

If this legislation does not become law, we will see the biggest tax hike in history with the average taxpayer seeing a 22 percent tax hike. We cannot allow this to happen – families are already struggling under high costs. It is essential we honor our commitments and move this legislation as quickly as possible to deliver relief to hardworking Americans. 
 

This week, House Republicans are bringing forward the historic reconciliation bill our committees have crafted together to fulfill our promises to the American people, put America first, restore the American dream, and solidify this as the golden age of the United States.

H.R. ____, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, sponsored by Chairman Jodey Arrington, incorporates the historic changes laid out in our budget resolution into one big, beautiful bill that includes legislation to deliver for Americans by cutting waste and government spending, reducing burdensome regulations, providing tax cuts that support families and small businesses, supporting domestic energy production and security, and securing the border.

Republicans across committees and branches of government came together and united behind President Trump to create one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in our history – now, we must make good on our promises to the American people by passing the one big, beautiful bill and delivering for hard working families who have been struggling for too long.
 

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Nullifying Biden’s Burdensome Bank Merger Rule

In September 2024, the Biden Administration published an Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) rule to amend the Bank Merger Act of 1986, adding bureaucratic hurdles and complicating the bank merger approval process by removing the expedited review process and streamlined applications for smaller, well-capitalized institutions.

This Biden-era regulation imposed burdensome red tape on the bank merger approval process through convoluted new standards, making it more difficult for banks of all sizes, particularly community and regional banks, to merge and compete – threatening access to financial services for hardworking Americans.

Let’s not try to fix a problem that didn’t exist – increasing bureaucracy only makes things harder on American businesses and taxpayers. House Republicans are bringing legislation prevent future administrations from implementing similar onerous regulations like the Biden OCC rule.

S.J. Res 13, introduced by Sen. John Kennedy, overturns the Biden OCC’s burdensome “Business Combinations Under the Bank Merger Act” final rule that ends automatic approvals under the expedited review procedure and gets rid of streamlined applications, ensuring consistent, transparent standards of evaluation for merger applications.

House Republicans are fighting to restore regulatory sanity in Washington and support growth and innovation.

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Reversing Biden’s Counterproductive EPA Rule Reestablishing “Once In, Always In”

Last year, the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final rule reimposing the Clean Air Act’s “Once In, Always In” policy that states facilities classified as “major sources” of emissions will always be classified as such and can never reclassify as “area sources,” which would allow them to adhere to less burdensome standards.

This means that even if facilities take huge steps to significantly reduce emissions and make improvements to help the environment, they will still be subject to the more stringent requirements that come with the “major source” classification – providing no incentive for companies to make progress reducing emissions.

By taking aways incentives for emissions reductions and environmental improvements and permanently imposing one-size-fits-all regulations on facilities with no flexibility or ability to adapt to changes over time, this troublesome Biden EPA rule could actually harm the environment, in addition to levying significant costs, while providing no significant benefits to the environment.

It is counterproductive and harmful to remove incentives to environmental improvements and enact permanent red tape. House Republicans are bringing legislation to the floor that overturns this damaging Biden-era rule and restores the opportunity for facilities to reap the benefits of making progress and reducing emissions.

Sen. John Curtis’ legislation, S.J. Res 31, nullifies the Biden EPA’s “Review of Final Rule Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources Under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act” rule imposing permanent red tape on companies classified as “major sources” and removing incentives to reduce emissions, restoring common sense and encouraging progress.

House Republicans are continuing to work against Biden’s onerous and overreaching regulatory framework, cutting the red tape to promote innovation and improvement the right way: with incentives that benefit the environment and American businesses.