Republican US House Leader Mike Johnson IS in Deep Shit….
He will be whipsawed by RightWingNuts and Swing State members….
Next US House elections are LESS than 2 years away….
And?
A President of his party led by nose by Musk’s cutting and Project 2025’s ZEAL for tearing the ass out of the US Government…
Oh?
And Republican US Senators….
Abd lastly?
Democrats…..
The US House….
Pennsylvania Rep. Rob Bresnahan is the latest swing-district Republican to issue a warning over deep spending cuts GOP leaders are targeting for key safety net programs in a bill to enact President Donald Trump’s massive domestic agenda.
“I ran for Congress under a promise of always doing what is best for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania,” said Bresnahan in a statement Friday. “If a bill is put in front of me that guts the benefits my neighbors rely on, I will not vote for it. Pennsylvania’s Eighth District chose me to advocate for them in Congress. These benefits are promises that were made to the people of NEPA and where I come from, people keep their word.”
Bresnahan could become a major problem for GOP leadership in the coming days. Speaker Mike Johnson can afford to lose only one vote on any party-line legislation he wants to pass on the House floor. That includes the budget resolution the House Budget Committee advanced Thursday night, which is the first step in allowing lawmakers to move ahead on drafting the measure to enact top legislative priorities through the filibuster-skirting reconciliation process.
But Johnson and fellow GOP leaders are facing rising anger from vulnerable Republicans after agreeing to demands from their hard-right flank to force deeper spending cuts of $2 trillion in the budget resolution — which, if adopted, will dictate how much committees need to cut from programs under their jurisdiction to pay for the larger reconciliation legislation.
That means members will likely have to extract deeper spending cuts across Medicaid, food assistance and other safety-net programs. And Bresnahan, who flipped a blue district in northeast Pennsylvania last fall to help maintain the House GOP majority, is among the growing contingent of centrists blanching at that prospect.
Bresnahan is also part of a group of vulnerable Republicans who privately warned GOP leaders last month to not slash key safety net programs as they look for ways to pay for the sweeping domestic policy bill that spans border, energy and tax cuts….
…
GOP leaders have been careful to say they’re not cutting benefits, but rather looking to root out waste, fraud and abuse within Medicaid and other federal aid programs. That’s done little to assuage some Republicans’ concerns, especially as some GOP lawmakers quietly have saidthat the particularly high $230 billion in spending cuts targeted for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under the Agriculture Committee will require Republicans to cut current food aid benefits. That would be in addition to expanding work requirements and rescinding other flexibilities for states….
The US Senate…
It’s not just Republicans who are gearing up. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will hold a special Democratic caucus call on Saturday to discuss party strategy around the budget resolution and “Republicans tax cuts for the rich,” according to a Senate aide.
A second aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said that Senate Republicans haven’t yet confirmed that they will bring their budget resolution to the floor next week, but procedural votes are a possibility as soon as Tuesday.
Being able to adopt the budget resolution next week would put the Senate even further ahead of the House in dueling efforts to pave the way for drafting a massive bill under the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process — necessary for enacting the heart of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
The Senate GOP still wants to take a “two-track” approach, frontloading energy, defense and border security provisions into one reconciliation bill before dealing with expiring tax cuts in a second one later. The budget resolution that cleared Graham’s committee earlier this week greenlights the first bill in that process.
House Republicans, however, want to pass “one big, beautiful bill” that encompasses all these policy areas plus a tax overhaul. They were able to clear their budget blueprint out of the House Budget Committee on Thursday night to set the stage for that approach after weeks of high-profile infighting amongst their own members.
Tensions on the House side appear as though they won’t be ending anytime soon, with some fiscal hawks calling for more cuts while swing-state incumbents fret over having to cut safety net programs to pay for Trump’s priorities. The House budget resolution is already drawing criticism from some Senate conservatives.
The Senate has an advantage over the House, now, if for no other reason than it that chamber is staying in session next week while the other is in recess….
Note…
Add Red State lawmakers who will be looking TO FUND cuts Trump is trying to make in programs that will hurt farmers and others making their living off of FOREIGN AID….
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