As the House reconvenes Wednesday after its latest recess, GOP leaders are bracing for a “very perilous period” with “enormous stakes” as they try to advance President Donald Trump’s controversial agenda – an effort that runs a significant risk of collapsing, Punchbowl News reported Wednesday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing significant pressure from far-right members of his own caucus to advance Trump’s agenda on the House floor, including the president’s controversial voter ID bill known as the SAVE Act. The pressure campaign deadlocked the House for weeks, and as members reconvene Wednesday, Johnson will have to navigate a “fragile equilibrium” that could end in disaster for the Trump administration.
“The House GOP’s fragile equilibrium hinges on not one massive undertaking but two: a defense-heavy reconciliation package and a hardline immigration plan that conservatives have demanded Johnson bring to the floor,” Punchbowl News’ report reads.
“If either package fails or sputters out, the other could be endangered, leaving House Republicans lost once again. The stakes are enormous for the Trump administration.”
The reconciliation package – designed to allow passage with a simple majority vote, bypassing the Senate's 60-vote filibuster requirement – is needed, Trump has claimed, to continue his unpopular war against Iran, a conflict that reignited last week with no signs of winding down.
Making passage of the reconciliation package even more difficult is a factor that Punchbowl News described as “dangling like an anvil above.”
“Passing budget resolutions is hard in normal times. But next week will be just over 100 days ahead of the midterm elections,” Punchbowl News’ report reads. “Democrats are hammering Trump over the ‘reckless war’ in Iran. Now GOP leaders are pushing for more Pentagon funding with no sign the conflict will end soon.”