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Lindsey Graham once lamented that “as long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we are going nowhere.” Now he and Miller are working closely together as Republicans plan a huge border bill.
The incoming Senate Budget Committee chairman is among a growing group of Republicans aligned with Miller, who will be Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, as the party tries to steer its agenda through next year’s narrow majorities in Congress. Graham said the two “talk all the time,” and he’s not the only one coordinating with Miller.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose Republicans aren’t fully on board yet with Graham and Miller’s plan to pass a border bill before a tax bill, said he and Miller talk almost daily. Incoming Senate GOP leader John Thune and his staff are also corresponding with Miller frequently, according to a person familiar with their contacts.
“He’s a long and trusted friend, and so we’re talking through all the realities of getting the consensus together for the plan,” Johnson told Semafor. “It’ll all come together soon.”
Once seen by some in his party as on the fringe of GOP politics, Miller now finds himself at the center of its delicate negotiations over the 2025 agenda — and the cost of failure could be steep for Republicans, given Trump’s high expectations for progress. Miller is bolstering the push by senior senators, including the incoming majority leader, to pass a border security and energy production package — before a tax bill.
But a powerful House Republican chairman who said he speaks to Trump “quite often” and Miller “even more” is making clear that he’d prefer one big mega-bill.
“I’ve been very successful getting votes. I know the House on tax policy better than anyone else. If they want to give me the best opportunity to pass the president’s tax plan, make it all in one bill,” Ways and Means Committee chief Jason Smith, R-Mo., told reporters.
Smith may lose out; Miller is spurring Senate Republicans to move quickly on their two-step plan, which is designed to confront the more complex tax bill later next year, when three seats vacated by lawmakers joining the Trump administration are filled. Senators expect Trump will end up siding with them and are keeping Miller and the White House apprised of their moves, though Thune underscored that they can’t speak for the president-elect.
“A lot of the people I’ve talked to in Trump world seem to be supportive” of a border-then-tax approach, said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. “It seems to me Trump would love it.”
A Trump transition team spokesperson responded to requests for comments by highlighting Miller’s weekend Fox News appearance, where he nudged Senate Republicans to pass a filibuster-proof border bill by February.
That would amount to a lightning-fast pace for an arduous process that requires both chambers of Congress to pass separate budgets first, with basically no margin for error in the House. The border money under discussion could reach $85 billion, paid for by new energy leases, and include other national security priorities.
Graham said he’s ready to move as fast as he can.
“Let’s address that, and that gives you political capital to do other things,” Graham said. “It’s a national security problem. Tax cuts expire later in the year. We need to secure our border quickly.”
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Smith’s Ways and Means Committee is caught between defending its chairman’s interest in an all-encompassing plan without seeming to shun the Trump administration. As his allies see it, Republicans have a better chance at getting tax legislation through the House if it’s paired with another policy sweetener, and they’re not backing down from that perspective when talking to Miller.
“I’ve had good conversations with Stephen, and I value his input a great deal,” House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said. “But I also think he values my feedback on what the political dynamics are in our chamber … he respects and defers.”
House Republicans, while many prefer the single-package route, have also floated another option that would split their agenda into two. Texas Rep. Beth Van Duyne, in a Wednesday interview with Semafor, alluded to talks about starting with a filibuster-proof tax bill and following up with a second agenda-focused bill that includes “whatever we can.”
Just as House members are careful not to undercut the White House in case Trump fully backs the border-first plan, senators say they need to avoid the appearance of trying to roll Smith and the House.
“With that razor-thin margin the House has, we really have to be respectful of what the House thinks it can do,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., a former House member. “And if they think they can only do a big thing, we kind of have to work with them on that.”
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is likely to play a role triangulating between the two chambers. Scott talks to Miller frequently, is aligned with Senate conservatives and has taken great pains to coordinate with the House Freedom Caucus at the same time.
“I’ve known Stephen a long time, and I’m just trying to be helpful to the White House and get their agenda done. And I think Stephen’s leading that effort right now,” Scott told Semafor.
The View From Democrats
Democrats don’t think the public likes what it hears from Miller, a border hardliner who helped craft Trump’s first-term ban on immigration from majority-Muslim nations.
“If the president-elect allows Stephen Miller to be dictating policy on immigration, it will be a mistake that he regrets for the country and also for his presidency,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Kadia and Burgess’ View
There are few people whose ascent more closely tracks with Trump than Miller, who worked on Capitol Hill for former Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. Over the past 15 years, Miller has vaulted from a congressional staffer trying to push the GOP rightward on immigration to incoming White House deputy chief of staff.
And as he rises higher in Trump’s network, his influence in the party has grown. During Trump’s first term, Miller rankled Graham and other Republicans by helping kill a bipartisan immigration deal.
These days, Miller has the ears of top Republicans in Congress, and they are listening.