While most Republicans were declaring victory at getting a budget deal done late Friday night to avoid a government shutdown, one GOP senator exuded gloom about what had transpired and predicted the first few months of Donald Trump's presidency will remain chaotic.
According to a report from Sahil Kapur of NBC News, the budget deal only keeps the government operational until March 14, less than sixty days after the president-elect is sworn in, before the fight flares up again.
In an interview, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) poured cold water on the deal, saying it was shortsighted to not fight for a longer time frame for Trump and GOP lawmakers to get their feet under them as they assume control of both chambers of Congress as well as the White House.
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Saying he would have preferred moving the date out to September, he lamented, "I think it’s kind of stupid. Don’t ask me to explain or defend this dysfunction.”
According to NBC's Kapur, "In the last four days, the communication was particularly poor. A day after Speaker Mike Johnson released an initial bipartisan deal, Trump and his billionaire confidant Elon Musk blew it up. The speaker went through three additional iterations of his plan to prevent a shutdown, ultimately succeeding after nixing Trump’s most consequential — and last-minute — demand."
According to Johnson, the end result created a mess that will still need to be dealt with.
“We got a big mess on our hands, no doubt about it,” Johnson said. “That’s why I’m trying to underpromise and hopefully over-deliver.”
Add to that, the report states, "In addition to another government funding deadline and a debt limit that must be addressed by mid-2025 to avert a calamitous default, Trump and Republicans need to confirm his personnel through the Senate, and they want to pass major party-line bills to beef up immigration enforcement and extend his expiring 2017 tax law."
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