While working on the details of President Trump’s program, Speaker Mike Johnson has a new challenge: reconciling the conflicting promises he made to different parts of the Republican Party.
The tax writers want to keep Trump’s 2017 tax cuts in place indefinitely, the hard-liners want even deeper spending cuts if the tax provisions grow, and the Republicans in swing districts are opposed to cutting safety-net programs, so Johnson has a tough balancing act on his hands. Then there are the Republicans in the Senate, Trump’s millionaire friend Elon Musk, and everyone else.
Already, fiscal conservatives in the House are pressuring Johnson to fight against Republican efforts in the Senate to roll back some of the spending cuts that their chamber passed. The House has spoken, Rep. Chip Roy said. “And I believe it is imperative that we stand by that stance.”
Other Republicans in the House, meanwhile, are relying on the Senate to mitigate the possible fallout from cuts to safety-net programs like Medicaid. In order to implement Trump’s domestic program, Congress must approve a reconciliation bill, which requires the House and Senate to adopt identical plans.
That isn’t Johnson’s sole big problem at the moment. In less than two weeks, the government is scheduled to shut down; he must also prevent this. During Sunday’s episode of “Meet the Press” on NBC, the speaker expressed his desire to preserve the Department of Government Efficiency’s budget cutbacks from the spending patch that Republican leaders are currently proposing in order to finance the government until September. Instead, he plans to try to work them into next year’s budget legislation.
Democrats were undecided on Sunday, but Johnson’s temporary retreat from codifying DOGE cutbacks should reduce the likelihood of a shutdown on March 14. The party’s minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has stated that they are “committed to funding the government” through programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. All three of those programs would likely keep receiving their present funding levels under a clean temporary measure, which is also called a continuing resolution (CR).
Even in the House, Republicans will likely require Democrats’ support on this. GOP Representative Tony Gonzales stated on Sunday that he will vote “NO on the CR” again, just like he did in December when he opposed the stopgap measure. He is expected to be joined by other conservatives.
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Three energy regulations enacted during Biden’s administration—one requiring energy conservation for appliances, another for tyre manufacturing, and a third that limited offshore drilling—are set to be heard at a 4 p.m. Monday hearing by the House Rules Committee. From now on, the group plans to convene on every fly-in day in order to remove more regulations using the Congressional Review Act.
The Senate is going to take a look at a measure that would prohibit transgender people from competing in women’s sports. John Thune, who is the majority leader in the Senate, will try to get Democrats to support the bill in its first procedural vote. To get it through the Senate, it would require seven Democrats, therefore it’s quite unlikely to succeed.
On the offensive, Democrats are arranging to have former government employees attend the president’s joint speech to Congress on Tuesday. Senator Ruben Gallego, for example, intends to invite a former Army veteran who was let go from DHS. Stay tuned for more: The communications arm of the Democratic Party in the House is urging members to invite those who have been “harmed” by the budget cuts and layoffs.