This is Brian Lair's Daily Politics podcast from WNYC Studios.

It's Monday, April 14th.

I'm Bridget Bergen, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist Newsroom.

Happy Passover to our Jewish listeners. One quick note

about Brian. Some of you may have heard him talking about this last week, but he'll be out this

week for cataract surgery on his second eye. He had the first eye done a couple weeks ago and

we'll be back next week. Brian, we're thinking of you. We hope you feel better. The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives

are both in spring recess. And given all the news coming out of the Trump administration last week,

especially related to trade policy, you might have missed some of the drama over the nation's budget.

While we are far from a final spending plan, Republicans in the Senate and House both

adopted blueprints that will pave the way for specific legislation that will detail tax

and spending cuts. But getting to this point did not come without some drama for the majority

Republican Party. So joining me now to catch us up on where things stand and what to watch for while lawmakers

are in recess and when they return later this month is Katie Edmondson, congressional correspondent

for the New York Times. Katie, welcome back to WNYC. Good morning. Thanks for having me. I know there was a lot

of back and forth over the budget blueprint last week.

So I'd love for you to walk us through some of those negotiations.

But just to kind of set this scene, I wonder if you could talk about the stakes for this moment.

We are less than 100 days into the second Trump administration.

What do Republicans in the House and Senate see as their role

in terms of advancing or checking in whatever way they see his agenda going forward?

Well, the legislation that we're talking about, which is going to be based on this blueprint that

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