GOP hardliners threaten revolt over Johnson plan to implement Trump agenda
CNN
Speaker Mike Johnson’s budget plan is in trouble as multiple GOP hardliners seek last-minute changes that could risk support from the party’s centrist middle — jeopardizing leadership’s plans to kickstart President Donald Trump’s agenda in Congress.
Speaker Mike Johnson’s budget plan is in trouble as multiple GOP hardliners seek last-minute changes that could risk support from the party’s centrist middle — jeopardizing leadership’s plans to kickstart President Donald Trump’s agenda in Congress. Just hours after the House GOP’s compromise plan was released, fiscal hawks in the chamber lined up to call for steeper cuts beyond the current reduction target of $1.5 trillion over a decade. But the size of those cuts is already difficult for some GOP centrists to swallow, with Republicans, including Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, still unwilling to say whether they support cuts of that size. House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington, a Republican from Texas, is projecting confidence. Yet given the backlash from GOP hardliners, it’s not clear if the plan will clear a key committee vote Thursday, let alone a floor vote by month’s end. “As of right now the votes are not there,” Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican and member of the House Freedom Caucus, told CNN when asked what level of cuts it would take to win his vote. “As it stands, I think it falls short … but it’s work in progress, and we’ll keep working on it.” Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican who sits on the House Budget Committee that will vote on the measure Thursday, declined to say if he would support it and said he wants to guarantee that the final bill will include policy such as work requirements for Medicaid, as well as an anti-red tape bill called the REINS Act. Three other members of that panel — Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, Tom McClintock of California and Andrew Clyde of Georgia — would not answer when asked how they’d vote on Thursday. A fourth member, Rep. Ben Cline of Virginia, said he is a “lean yes.” “You’ll find out tomorrow,” Clyde said when asked Wednesday how he would vote on Thursday.
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