Republican leaders are still at odds over the reconciliation discussion after meeting with Trump

The leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate left the meeting in The white house on Tuesday with varying levels of optimism that he will be able to fit his plans for a major overhaul of conservative policies into a single bill.

“The reason the president talked about a big, beautiful bill and the reason we’re talking about it is because it’s the most effective and efficient way to do it,” House Speaker Mike JohnsonR-La., Sean Hannity told Fox News after the meeting.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Republican, told reporters, “We’re moving forward with one House bill.”

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“We had a lot of briefings for members, but we also talked about it with President Trump,” Scalise said. “When you look at what gives us the best path to success — securing the border, reducing energy costs and getting a stable tax policy instead of raising taxes — all of those things we want to do. One bill is the best path.”

However, the Senate Majority Leader John ThuneRS.D., which has pushed for a two-bill approach, expressed expectations when asked about Scalise’s comments.

“I think that discussion is always based on what we can do and obviously we’re all interested in getting to the same destination,” Thune told reporters. “There’s a lot to do, and part of it is just thinking about how to execute it and what’s the best way to get all those results.”

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One Senate GOP leadership source dismissed suggestions from House leaders that the outcome of the joint debate was a broad agreement on a one-bill approach. Many Republicans in the upper chamber said they would prefer two draft reconciliation bills, even after Trump’s meeting with the Senate GOP earlier this month.

Dealing with the debt limit, aid for the California wildfires and a March 14 government funding deadline were also topics that came up at Tuesday’s meeting.

The sit-in comes as congressional Republicans prepare for a major overhaul of conservative policies through the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the threshold for passage in the Senate from 60 to 51 votes, the reconciliation allows the party that controls Congress and the White House to enact sweeping policy changes — as long as they address budget and other fiscal issues.

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GOP lawmakers are seeking to use the reconciliation to pass sweeping measures on border security, government spending, defense, energy and extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts — with several key provisions from that bill expiring at the end of this year.

Proponents of the two-bill approach, which include Thune and the House Freedom Caucus, argue that splitting their priorities into separate pieces of legislation will allow Republicans to score early victories on issues such as border security and energy, which are generally less divisive within the GOP- and , leaving more time for complex things like taxes.

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Critics of the plan include members of the House Ways and Means Committee, who have warned that the complex political maneuvering required for reconciliation could put the two bills out of reach, given the GOP’s slim margins in Congress.

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“The last time we had two was when Newt Gingrich was speaker. He had a much larger majority. That was in 1997. We have a majority of one,” committee member Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, RN.Y., told reporters this of the month.

Congress intends to put a reconciliation plan on Trump’s desk by spring, Scalise said Tuesday.