Shutdown chaos has Republicans worried about moving Trump agenda
by Alexander Bolton - 12/21/24 6:00 AM ET
Republican lawmakers say Congress’s near brush with a government shutdown shows that House Republicans do not have a functional majority, giving them a bad feeling about how difficult it will be to pass President-elect Trump’s agenda in 2025.
While Republicans in both chambers broadly agree on the need to secure the border and extend Trump’s expiring tax cuts, GOP senators fear that passing legislation to accomplish those goals, as well as raising the debt limit and cutting federal spending, will be enormously difficult next year.
Republican senators say the turmoil within the House GOP conference this past week shows the Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will face an enormous challenge in passing two budget reconciliation packages and debt-limit legislation in 2025.
“It’s going to be really hard in the House because they just simply don’t have a working majority,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).
The GOP is hoping to move two packages on border security and domestic energy production, and taxes through special budgetary rules that sidestep a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
The problem, GOP senators worry, may be the House, where Republicans will only have a majority of one, two or three seats, depending on vacancies. At least two House lawmakers are headed to the Trump administration, while former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is not expected to take his seat in the next Congress.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5051916-republicans-struggle-agenda-trump/
