Trump 'quickly' learning he and GOP House aren't on the same page: report
Donald Trump told the public Sunday that he wants "one big, beautiful bill" that would cover a kind of "Christmas tree budget bill," so-called because it includes many different funding measures.
Trump thought he and Republicans in Congress were all on the same page, But according to Punchbowl News on Monday, it turns out they aren't. And it came as a shock to the incoming president.
Top Republicans spent the weekend with Trump and Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago to unify the splintered caucus. But Punchbowl says that no matter which direction Johnson takes, he'll "anger one portion of the House Republican Conference or another."
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"Before the meetings at Mar-a-Lago, Trump was under the impression that the House GOP was in agreement on the one bill approach to reconciliation," Punchbowl News reporter Melanie Zanona posted on X. "He quickly learned that wasn’t the case ALSO — it’s looking increasingly likely that the debt ceiling will fall out of the bill."
“At the end of the day, President Trump is going to prefer, as he likes to say, 'one big, beautiful bill.' And there's a lot of merit to that, because we can put it all together, one big up-or-down vote, which can save the country, quite literally, because there are so many elements to it," the non-committal Johnson told Fox Business on Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t convinced Trump that a two-bill solution is the better move.
"Thune had a back-and-forth with Trump on this during Senate Republicans’ closed-door meeting with the president-elect last week. The two-step idea could still be the end result here if Republicans struggle with one megabill," the report said.
Johnson and his allies want the budget bill on the floor by the middle of February, but Punchbowl said that such a goal means the GOP should get busy.
The narrow majority is expected to get worse as Trump appointees from the House leave seats empty. Meanwhile, Punchbowl reported that Johnson also faces the "troublesome trio of GOP Reps. Chip Roy (Texas), Ralph Norman (S.C.) and Thomas Massie (Ky.)."
Johnson may be mulling over "canning Massie and keeping the other two," the report said.
Trump is also reportedly furious that Republicans left the debt ceiling hanging over the party and they didn't eliminate the problem before he came into office. Instead, Trump will be forced to have a looming shutdown within the first two months of his presidency.
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