For more on the House Republican debate on President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda, tune in to “Inside Politics with Manu Raju” on CNN on Sundays at 8 a.m. ET and 11 a.m. ET.
Congressman Tim Burchett has never voted to raise the U.S. borrowing limit in his life. And that may not change just because Donald Trump is a vote-seeker.
Asked if she would support President Trump’s plan to raise the debt ceiling, Burchett told CNN: “I don’t know if that’s the case.”
Burchett, like several other Republican hardliners, is drawing a clear line when it comes to Trump’s first big policy package. They say the measure, which is expected to include billions of dollars in spending on border security, energy projects and tax extensions, as well as raising the nation’s debt ceiling, must be fully paid for. They claim that it is not an accounting trick like even the Republican Party is doing. Used in the past.
“You’ve got to show a reduction in spending. A real reduction in spending. It’s not like, ‘Oh, we’re going to do this,'” Burchett said, adding that the past rejected attempts by Republicans to reform the budget.
Burchett is one of several House and Senate conservatives who told CNN they are calling for hundreds of billions, or even trillions, of dollars in spending cuts to support President Trump’s plan. But if their wishes are granted, there will inevitably be a revolt among other segments of the Republican Party, among moderates and appropriators who have long defended certain cherished domestic programs. And that can cause the whole effort to collapse.
“The more you add to a settlement, the louder the opposition becomes,” said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Arkansas, a senior appropriations lawmaker. “And I’m worried about it.”
All of this comes as party leaders navigate internal divisions over a complex set of policies that House Speaker Mike Johnson has vowed to pass on the floor by April, calling it “one beautiful bill.” It highlights the major challenge Mr. Trump faces in assembling a coalition that supports what he calls the United States. However, it would require near-unanimous support within the council to pass. Sources say the House Budget Committee chair is currently drafting a list of $5 trillion worth of potential spending cuts to convince the conference.
But Republicans say the fiscal battle must be one of the most difficult to resolve.
“I’ve never voted to raise the debt ceiling, but I want to make sure we pay for it,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, an Arizona Republican and member of the House Freedom Caucus.
Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., said it was “likely” that he would be asked significantly more in exchange for including debt limits.
Asked what he thought about President Trump’s plan to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, Crane said, “I have no comment.”
No member state rejects President Trump’s policies outright, but any bill that does not include significant and immediate cuts to pay for the entire plan and pay down some of the national debt is It shows an attitude of opposition. If the government funding battle from December, when 38 Republicans voted against a bill that included the debt hike Trump wanted, is any indication, Trump is pushing lawmakers to support the bill. Just calling out again may not be enough.
For example, the president-elect personally influenced Mr. Johnson’s last attempt to raise the debt ceiling. And that sentiment remains among many conservatives.
“It’s a bad idea,” Sen. Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, told CNN when asked about including a debt ceiling increase in broader policy.
But borrowing limits will need to be raised this year to avoid a first-ever default, a potential economic disaster that President Trump is keen to avoid, and in December The government raised the level at the last minute, threatening to spur a government shutdown. Before Christmas. Johnson was ultimately forced to punt the debt ceiling, and now plans to include the plan in President Trump’s massive bill.
Johnson has argued that the Senate’s filibuster-free budget process allows him to raise the debt ceiling on his own terms, meaning he doesn’t need Democratic consent to pass the bill.
But that means they need to keep their party together.
Republican leaders see the early warnings from the right as an ominous sign for the massive bill, which needs support from all but one Republican in the House. Others secretly believe it may be impossible to pass a debt ceiling increase without Democratic support.
Asked about the dissatisfaction of Republican lawmakers over the debt limit, Oklahoma’s senior congressman, Frank Lucas, said some members would “never support” the debt limit.
“Reconciling idealism with reality can sometimes be a problem here,” Lucas says. “And many of my friends who have never voted on a debt limit issue have voted for every increase in defense spending and every increase in infrastructure.”
President Trump and Republican leaders are working aggressively to gain support from these conservatives in the early stages of the bill. The president-elect hosted members of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus at Mar-a-Lago this weekend.
But some conservatives say they’re not entirely satisfied with the arguments so far. Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, who initially opposed Johnson’s Jan. 3 meeting, said that in recent policy meetings with House Republican leaders, “spending was not talked about enough.” He told CNN he was concerned.
“Reconciliation is about controlling spending through coercive aspects,” Self said, referring to the budget process used to avoid the filibuster. “We need to make sure we do that.”
But calculating the budget is difficult because Johnson and his colleagues have ruled out cuts to expensive programs like Medicare and Social Security.
“Look, the president (president-elect) has made it very clear: Social Security and Medicare must be maintained, and we are not, with the intention of cutting benefits in any way. There’s no one coming in,” Johnson told reporters.
Instead, Republicans are discussing ways to cut spending from programs like Medicaid and nutrition programs by creating work requirements. Republicans have low-hanging fruit, including recouping the costs of things like Biden’s effort to cancel student loan debt and new federal aid for electric vehicles, which Republicans hope will generate at least $100 billion. I think I can save money.
However, this is unlikely to cover all prices. One Republican aide described it as “putting a scalpel in a mine to find ore.” And the decision to cut spending risks losing more Republican voters.
“We have 20, 25 different complex issues,” said Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, a fiscal hawk. His biggest single priority is to make sure there’s no more money on the bill – real savings and “no bullshit, no made-up” cuts.
Asked if he intended to bow to President Trump’s pressure to raise the debt ceiling, Roy told CNN: “I don’t think so. “I fully support clearing the debt ceiling… but I’m not going to withdraw my belief that we need to reduce the deficit.”
Most members heading to Mar-a-Lago say they will be in listening mode, hoping that President Trump will come up with ideas they can support.
“I think it’s really important to have that line of communication,” Republican Rep. Byron Donald, who met with President Trump on Friday night, told CNN.
Conservatives in Congress say they will insist that the entire package, including President Trump’s 2017 tax cut extension, be paid in full, unlike the first time around.
“Republicans want to regain the fiscal responsibility that has been lost over the past few years under leadership from both parties,” said Rep. Ben Kline, a member of the Caucus Freedom Caucus and the Republican Budget Committee. .
But the dynamics are becoming more complicated as Republican leaders consider adding more tax cuts. Mr. Johnson is under intense pressure from a small group of New York Republicans to reinstate costly state and local tax breaks that the party capped in 2017.
Klein said reinstating the more generous deduction, known as SALT, could cost as much as $1 trillion.
“Are those savings achievable? Is this conference going to seek them out and engage them? That’s something we have to talk about,” Klein said in response to a question about tax credits.
But some Republican lawmakers representing battleground states in New York, New Jersey and California plan to meet with President Trump as soon as this weekend to argue that restoring the SALT tax cut is their own red line. is.
“Look, I said it loud and clear,” said Rep. Mike Lawler, who met with President Trump and the New York Republican Party at Mar-a-Lago this weekend. “I will not support a tax bill that does not eliminate the SALT cap.”
Rep. Ralph Norman, another member of the Freedom Caucus, believes President Trump could ultimately help maintain Republican support for the bill. He noted that he received a phone call from Trump during last week’s election for chairman, during which Trump helped convince Johnson to give him a full term as chairman.
“If he needed it, he’d call 100 people like I did. I’d say, ‘Here’s why I need it, and what does it take to get you on board?’ We want a president who can speak directly to us,” Norman said.
CNN’s Annie Grayer and Ali Main contributed to this report.
