Congressional Republicans notched a major victory by muscling a funding bill through the House, but GOP lawmakers are still struggling to make headway on President Donald Trump’s biggest legislative priorities.
House and Senate Republicans have yet to reach a deal on a budget plan that would set the framework for Trump’s legislative agenda — a source of tension ahead of a meeting Thursday between GOP senators and Trump at the White House. Republicans need to agree on how much spending to cut to offset the cost of their massive bill to fund tax cuts, border security, defense and energy policy. And they also don’t agree on when or how they’ll try to raise the debt ceiling to avoid a global economic catastrophe.
But there’s one sentiment House and Senate Republicans do share right now: They have yet to deliver any major legislative policy wins for their new president.
“I am worried about it,” Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said in an interview.
Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged this week he has little time to celebrate Republicans’ major spending win after the House passed his stopgap funding bill Tuesday.
“Everybody says ‘congratulations.’ And they high-five me. And then I go right back to work,” Johnson said during a fireside chat at Georgetown University Tuesday. “This is going to be the heavy lift.”
The rising concerns about the path forward reflect the reality that Republicans are about to launch some of the toughest Capitol Hill negotiations in years, with competing GOP factions at odds over fiscal policy and the future of the federal safety net. Republicans are only just beginning to hash out the details, and Trump himself is providing little direction — and occasionally creating confusion — about the specifics. At stake are major campaign promises that both Trump and Republicans made to win back control of Washington.
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