WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) joined CNBC’s Squawk Box Wednesday to discuss the latest on Republican efforts in Congress to pass President Trump’s economic agenda, as well as the next steps for the Senate’s budget resolution.

Click here to watch the full interview.

On the momentum building in the Senate…

“We’ve been having these meetings pretty much on a weekly basis, making sure that the White House, the House, and the Senate are aligned and moving forward on the economic policies that the President has been pushing since he was campaigning… But it was highly productive. I’m very, very excited about the momentum that’s building over in the United States Senate to pick up and pass the budget resolution that the House passed just over a month ago.”

On Republican unity behind One Big, Beautiful Bill…  

“I’ll first say that failure is not an option in delivering these economic policies. But it also means that as the Ways and Means Chairman, and also the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, we have to thread a very narrow needle to make sure that the smallest majority in the history of Congress is able to stick together to move this economic package… We’re going to stick together, and we’re going to deliver for the American people.”

On protecting Social Security and Medicaid benefits…

“The President has been crystal clear, Joe, he wants to protect the benefits for Americans, unless they are illegals, and there are numerous things that we can do to have savings. For example, the Social Security Inspector General last year highlighted $72 billion of improper payments in Social Security. There’s a lot of waste and fraud and abuses within the federal government, and we need to create efficiencies. And that will help protect and preserve the programs for the people who are relying on them.”