There’s a lot more separating the House and Senate than the Capitol dome — at least in the Republican Party. The distance between the two chambers is getting wider with every step of the budgeting process. In the race of who-can-deliver-President-Trump’s-agenda-first, the GOP has been butting heads over strategy for weeks, an intra-party duel that’s produced two very different pieces of legislation. But if the competing sides of Congress agree on anything, it’s that something needs to get to the president’s desk — and soon.

Worried that a House proposal will sink into the familiar quicksand of warring personalities and priorities, the Senate decided to barge ahead with its own two-bill plan. “At the end of the day, our conference has extremely low confidence in the House’s ability to do anything,” an anonymous Senate GOP staffer told The Hill. “That is why we are moving. I think if we leave the House to their own designs, we feel there is a very high likelihood we get no reconciliation bills passed.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) would beg to differ, producing a 45-page resolution that not only passed out of the chamber’s Budget Committee last Thursday, but also has the endorsement of the tough-to-please House Freedom Caucus. That’s a huge coup for GOP leaders, who threatened to release a two-bill solution of their own as recently as last week. Instead, some of Johnson’s most vocal critics have rallied behind this “one big, beautiful bill,” calling the $1.5-$2 trillion in cuts a win for fiscal conservatives.

“The budget put forward by the chairman is a giant step forward to reduce spending,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) insisted on the proposal that addresses all four of the White House’s big-ticket items: border security, defense, energy, and tax policy. “I believe that it is responsible, and I believe it is a balance of what we’re supposed to do.” His Maryland colleague, Rep. Andy Harris (R), agreed, telling reporters enthusiastically, “We declare victory.” Asked if the House Freedom Caucus still planned to counter with a proposal of their own, he replied simply, “We don’t need another bill.”

Tell that to the Senate, where a “skinny” version of reconciliation — without the president’s tax cuts — is speeding through the process while the House is on a week-long recess. Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had a message for the other chamber as his plan moved through to the floor: “I hope you will consider what we do if you cannot produce the one big, beautiful bill quickly.”

Meanwhile, Democrats — who are relishing this Republican rivalry — have tried, and failed, to slow either process. Last Thursday, in the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his party tried to jam the committee with 32 amendments, sucking up seven hours of debate time, and failing to pass a single one. His Senate counterpart, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), told Democrats on a “rare Saturday conference call” that he would do the same — only in his chamber, the window for amendments can stretch to 50 hours.

Fractured caucus or no, Republicans have already managed to do something that no one has accomplished since Trump’s first term: propose a legitimate budget. “My Democrat colleagues never did a budget for five years,” House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) pointed out. “And when y’all did the Build Back Better [plan], it didn’t come through the Budget Committee. We’ve empower[ed] this committee, and we respected the deliberative process. We’ve got[ten] it to a good place, and now we’re going to put it in play.”

What Joe Biden’s majority did was all “smoke and mirrors,” Family Research Council’s Ken Blackwell explained on “Washington Watch” Friday. Their idea of a disciplined budget process is “stuff[ing] the pockets of the administrative state,” which, in his mind, slows growth and crushes individual liberty and prosperity.” (As Elon Musk would be quick to point out, it also leads to shocking amounts of waste, negligence, and fraud.)

So, regardless of their differences, Blackwell said, “What I was impressed with is that Republicans had a robust debate. … They put the Democrats back on their heels. And I think that one of the outcomes of this will be the American people will see that this is a Republican Party that is ready to work together,” not just in a transparent way, he emphasized, “but in a very disciplined way that controls spending, accelerates growth, and puts Americans back to work again.”

Even so, the cold hard reality is that if the president wants to put wins on the board, his party will have to find a way to get on the same page. “Republicans will need to quickly unite around one strategy,” Politico warns. “Neither chamber can advance a final package until both approve an identical budget measure to unlock the reconciliation power they need to skirt the Senate filibuster. Of course, both chambers also have to pass the same final bill to clear it for Trump’s signature.”

Maybe, as one Senate aide suggested, Graham only introduced his own bill to shock the House into action. “The only reason [House leaders] moved a product through committee when they did was because Senate Republicans started moving,” this person claimed. “The Senate moving on our own timeline is good, not only for moving a product forward, but to push the House to get its act in order.” 

But “getting its act in order” is no small feat with a paper-thin margin and dozens of philosophical differences. That Johnson has a bill through committee at all is a wonder. “And that is the essential piece,” he explained to Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Saturday’s “This Week on Capitol Hill,” “the essential step to start the entire reconciliation process. So the trains are going to start moving faster.” But, he warned, “There’ll be lots of deliberation, discussion, and debate over the coming weeks,” especially, observers warn, where the GOP moderates are concerned.

Placating the hardline conservatives is one thing, but eking out a victory with the Republicans’ bigger spenders is another. Either way, all paths to victory run through the House. For his part, Johnson is striking an optimistic tone. “[W]e’ll put that final package together,” he vowed to Perkins, “and on the ambitious calendar that I’ve set it on. We’re trying to get this to the president’s desk for signature by the end of April or early May. That’s important because … this is the primary component to make sure that the economy is moving quickly again — and in the direction that everybody wants.”

Congress cannot fail, Johnson reiterated. “We won’t. … We will get it done and the Republicans will stand together on it.”