The Big Story 

Senate Republicans were caught off guard Wednesday after President Trump indicated his preference for the House GOP’s strategy to advance his agenda in one sweeping bill.

© The Associated Press

Emerging from a meeting Wednesday with Vice President Vance, Republicans said the upper chamber will press on with a budget resolution that would unlock the process they hope to use to pass large portions of Trump’s agenda without Democratic support.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters the plan is for the upper chamber to move forward on Thursday “with a vote-a-rama,” a marathon voting session that is a key next step for the Senate to move its budget plan forward.

While the president said in a social media post hours before that both chambers were taking efforts to advance his priorities, he added the House plan “implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not just parts of it” — which he noted is “unlike the Lindsey Graham version.”

Thune told reporters shortly after that he “did not see” Trump’s comments coming and that he hadn’t spoken to the president before his post.

Republicans have sought to make clear that the aim is the same behind both efforts: delivering wins on Trump’s legislative agenda in areas like border, tax and defense. But there’s also distinct differences in both chambers’ strategies.

The Hill’s Aris Folley has more here.

Welcome to The Hill’s Business & Economy newsletter, we’re Aris Folley and Taylor Giorno — covering the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

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Essential Reads 

Key business and economic news with implications this week and beyond:

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Republicans set aside doubts about Trump’s Labor pick

Senators call for stronger ethics enforcement at Federal Reserve

Tax Watch 

Welcome to Tax Watch, a new feature in The Hill’s Business & Economy newsletter focused on the fight over tax reform and the push to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts this year.

IRS employees brace for layoffs amid tax season

IRS employees are preparing for layoffs in the middle of tax season as the newfound Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) makes cuts to the federal government.

“Our probationary employees will be removed as of tomorrow,” Shannon Ellis, president of chapter 66 of the National Treasury Employees Union in the Kansas City area, said in a social media video posted Tuesday. 

Probationary employees are new hires at the IRS who need to complete a trial period of one or two years before acquiring full employee status. Ellis said she didn’t know if the layoffs would affect non-probationary employees, as well.

IRS service levels have been bad in recent years, so it’s not clear why authorities are making further staffing cuts. Last year, 31 percent of calls to the agency were answered by a human being, up from 29 percent in 2023, 13 percent in 2022, and 11 percent in 2021, according to figures from National Taxpayer Advocate’s most recent report to Congress.

The IRS fails to collect around $700 billion in taxes every year, and the employee cut could have an effect on this number, as well.

“My estimates … suggest we could give up on [about] $3 trillion in uncollected taxes by gutting tax compliance efforts,” former Treasury Department tax policy lawyer Natasha Sarin wrote in a social media post Wednesday.

The firings of new hires could also affect audit rates, which have similarly declined in recent years.

“A lack of important staffing and funding may well impact the volume of examinations the IRS can conduct,” former IRS commissioner Charles Rettig wrote in a social media post on Tuesday.

— Tobias Burns

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