Republicans divided over preelection stimulus push as economy slows

Republicans on Capitol Hill are divided over whether to make a last-ditch push to enact legislation to stimulate the economy and cheer up voters before Election Day as the latest federal data shows the economy is slowing and inflation remains a problem.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) last month floated a fourth budget reconciliation package to enact additional progrowth tax cuts. He said the package, which could pass the Senate with a simple majority, would also root out waste and fraud and give more money back to U.S. taxpayers.

Some Senate Republicans have also endorsed the idea of going “big” by using another budget reconciliation bill to boost the economy before potentially losing control of the House or both chambers of Congress in the midterms.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has led the charge to provide tariff relief payments to lower- and middle-class Americans struggling to cope with higher cost-of-living expenses amid President Trump’s trade war with Canada and other countries and the slowdown of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Hawley has introduced legislation to provide $600 tariff rebates to almost all Americans and to their dependent children, which would give $2,400 to a traditional family of four.

The desire to give voters some good news, or at least hope of action on a stimulus package, is driven by indicators showing the economy slowing and polls showing voters largely disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy.

The Commerce Department on Wednesday reported that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose by 0.2 percent for the month, amounting to an annual inflation rate of 3.7 percent, well above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 percent.

The data shows that the affordability of goods and services continues to be a major issue.

Economic growth, meanwhile, slowed to 1.5 percent in the second quarter of 2026, cooling down compared with the first quarter of the year, which saw 2.1 percent growth in gross domestic product.

The Conference Board, a nonprofit business membership organization and research group, on Tuesday reported that consumer confidence dropped in August compared with July.

The rising cost of goods and services combined with slowing economic growth has pushed some Republicans in Congress to call for GOP leaders to pursue a more ambitious agenda for the fall.

But that’s getting pushback from other Republican lawmakers who argue that the window to pass additional tax relief or to give families tariff refund payments has closed and that any new economic initiatives won’t pass before the end of the year.

“The rumor is already the House can’t even stay in past one week. They’re going to pass the CR and then skedaddle,” said a Senate GOP aide, referring to talk on Capitol Hill that jittery House Republicans want to get back to the campaign trail as quickly as possible next week after passing a continuing resolution to fund the government until Dec. 11.

“The cake is baked on major policy fights between now and the economy. What are you going to do that would actually change the trajectory of the economy or change any opinions?” said the GOP aide.

The House is scheduled to return to Washington next week to pick up the Senate-passed stopgap measure funding the government until December and then will be on recess again the week of Labor Day.

Both chambers are scheduled to be in session for the final three weeks of September.

Republican Senate and House sources said there hasn’t been much progress on including additional tax relief measures in another budget reconciliation package as Scalise proposed last month.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has warned against including any instructions to the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax issues, in a budget resolution, arguing that doing so would open up vulnerable GOP colleagues to tough votes on raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations or extending expired health insurance subsidies.

Thune says forcing vulnerable colleagues such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Jon Husted (R-Ohio) to vote on Democratic amendments designed to score political points would be a “risky proposition.”

Nevertheless, Senate Budget Committee Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is working on a budget resolution over the August recess in hopes of bringing it to the floor during the September work period to unlock the process to pass a third budget reconciliation package.

The budget framework passed by the House would provide $73 billion in funding for the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence agencies, $12 billion in aid to farmers and $10 billion to states to tighten rules for voting.

Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) had argued in June that the reconciliation process should be used to circumvent a Democratic filibuster in the Senate to enact legislation addressing affordability.

Pfluger told the “Ruthless Podcast” in June that the third budget reconciliation bill should address the high costs of housing, energy and other needs.

The third reconciliation package “is us going into our districts, listening to our constituents who are saying, ‘Hey, things are pretty expensive.’ ‘We know it’s not your fault.’ ‘We know it’s Biden and the inflation that he created but what can we do for housing, energy and healthcare?’” he said.

Yet Republican leaders remain strongly opposed to adding tax and healthcare provisions to a budget reconciliation bill that would open up everything under the Finance Committee’s jurisdiction for a debate on the Senate floor.

“You can’t really uncork reconciliation without opening yourself up to a pretty ugly process. You’re going to be revisiting all the Medicaid votes because if you do anything tax-related or tariff-related, you have to instruct Finance, and there’s no desire from a large number of members in the Republican conference to instruct Finance,” said the Senate GOP aide.