From left, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, and House Majority Leader David Hiott, R-Pickens, talk to reporters on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, after the House gave final approval to its $13.2 billion budget proposal. (Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — Returning to the Statehouse with a supermajority in the House and Senate, Republicans are hopeful to easily pass priorities such as cutting taxes and restoring school choice vouchers, leaders said.
However, questions remain about the details and debates in 2025, which will feature the first supermajority in the Senate since Reconstruction. Republicans in that chamber have not yet set their caucus priorities, said Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield.
“We’re in uncharted waters now in South Carolina,” said House Minority Leader Roger Kirby, D-Lake City. “We don’t know what to expect, quite frankly.”
In the House, a top priority for the majority GOP caucus is “historic tax cuts,” which could have widespread support from both House Democrats and the hardline conservative Freedom Caucus.