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House Republicans face massive debt problem

2 39
12.01.2025

House Republicans have a problem. They want to pass a massive agenda for President-elect Trump, preferably in his first 100 days of office. And they don’t want to add to the federal deficit.

That looks impossible.

Trump’s agenda includes an extension of his 2017 tax cuts, with possible plus-ups that include no taxes on tips and the possible elimination of a ceiling on state and local tax deductions. It also includes energy reform and changes to the border and rules on immigration.

Republicans don’t agree on exactly what should be in the package.

And they also don’t agree on whether it’s OK if this agenda adds to the deficit.

Conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus are demanding the effort by budget neutral, arguing the country simply can’t afford to tack on additional deficits after years of fiscal red ink. They’d cut spending to pay for some of Trump’s priorities. But that could erode support from more moderate Republicans.

Caught in the middle are Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his leadership team, who are scrambling to find the delicate balance that satisfies all camps for the sake of enacting Trump’s top campaign promises — a challenge made all the more pronounced by the GOP’s hairline House majority, which allows for virtually no defections.

Heading into the debate, Johnson is already committing to certain elements of the process, like the use of a procedural gambit, known as reconciliation, to elude a Senate filibuster. But on the thorny question of budget neutrality, he isn’t committing one way or the other.

“That is one of the things that we’re trying to ensure,” Johnson said Thursday. “[But] I can’t commit to any final proposition in the moment because we are making this a bottom-up, member-driven proposal, and the elements of the reconciliation package are coming together.”

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© The Hill