After days of threats and demands, Donald Trump had little to show for it when lawmakers passed a budget deal early Saturday morning, narrowly averting a pre-Christmas government shutdown.
The president-elect successfully pushed House Republicans to spend some money, but fell short of his primary goal of raising the debt limit. It showed that despite his election victory and his promises of revenge, many members of his party are still willing to come out against him.
Trump’s decision to insert himself into the budget debate a month before his inauguration also showed that he is more experienced at making deals than making them, and foreshadowed that his second term will be marked by similar conflicts, chaos and irrationality. his first. “Stay tuned. Buckle up. Connect,” said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., a senior appropriator.
A cursory glance at Trump’s agenda shows plenty of possibilities for similar contests in the coming years. He wants to extend the tax cuts he signed into law seven years ago, reduce the size of government, raise the excise tax and crack down on illegal immigrants. Many of those efforts will require congressional buy-in.
For many of Trump’s supporters, disruption may be their goal. Thirty-seven percent of those who voted for him this year said they wanted “total and complete chaos,” according to AP VoteCast, a broad survey of more than 120,000 voters. Another 56% said they wanted “big change.”
But the past few days have made clear the difficulties Trump may face in quickly achieving his goals, especially since Republicans hold only a small majority in the House and Senate. Some lawmakers already seem weary of the lack of a unified strategy. Sen. Kevin Cramer, RN.D., said the budget battle is “an important lesson in how we can do things together.” “There are no layups and it’s getting harder,” he said.
How Trump’s demands fell The crisis began when top lawmakers released a copy of the bill, known as a continuing resolution, needed to keep the federal government running until March. It was not the president-elect but Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump’s confidant, who first began to oppose this law on social media saying that he spent too much money.
Trump finally entered the fray. He ordered Republicans to cancel the bipartisan deal they made with Democrats. He also demanded that they raise the debt ceiling – a measure of how much the government can borrow – in the hope of preventing that difficult issue from occurring during his tenure.
He increased the pressure even though his demands changed. First he wanted to completely eliminate the debt limit. He then wanted to suspend it until 2027. He then extended it until 2029. If it is closed, Democratic President Joe Biden will bear the blame, Trump insisted. Our country, and vote “YES” on this Bill, TONIGHT!” Trump tweeted Thursday, ahead of a vote on a version of the bill that includes a higher debt ceiling.
Instead, 38 Republicans voted no. It was a surprising conflict for Trump, whose power over his own party has at times seemed close. “Besides this, we should never make an agreement,” he wrote on the Truth Social platform. If he doesn’t get what he wants, Trump said, the government should be shut down.
He also said that members of his party will face great challenges if they refuse to comply, saying that “Republican obstructionists must be eliminated.” He appointed Rep. Chip Roy from Texas by name and by name. But in the end, lawmakers abandoned that debt hike, and a final deal was passed early Saturday.
Musk and other Trump allies tried to bill it as a win because the final law was heavily scaled back and left unpopular items such as pay raises for members of Congress. Charlie Kirk, a prominent civil rights activist, wrote in X that Trump “already controlled Congress before he took office!” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he has been in “constant communication” with Trump, who added that he was “very happy with the outcome.” If Trump agreed, he didn’t say it himself.
After days of frequent social media messages, Trump again fell silent on Friday. He did not comment on the final vote or issue any statements. Instead, he went golfing at his resort in Florida. Caroline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump, said the president-elect helped prevent a first-party deal “filled with Democrat pork and the promotion of members of Congress.” “In January, President Trump and DOGE will continue this important work to remove waste from Washington, one bill at a time,” she said. DOGE refers to the Department of Public Works, an advisory panel that will be chaired by Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Another conflict to come The circus-like nature of the funding war was reminiscent of Trump’s first term. Meanwhile, one budget dispute led to a government shutdown when Trump demanded money for his US-Mexico border wall. After 35 days – the longest shutdown in history – he agreed to a deal without the money he wanted. It was a political low point for Trump, with 60% of Americans blaming him for the shutdown, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll at the time.
Trump did not stop trying to bend the Republicans to his will during that time. Of course he won’t do that now. He puts pressure on his party with his Cabinet picks, pushing reluctant Republican senators to get on board with some of his most controversial items, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s advocacy. as health secretary and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary.
Next year’s appropriations debates seem certain to further test Trump’s influence in the House. Many conservatives view the rapid growth of the national debt as an existential threat to the country that must be addressed. But some Republicans fear a voter backlash if there are too many cuts to government programs Americans rely on.
Concerns about the deficit could worsen if Trump pushes through the expensive tax cuts he promised during the campaign, such as eliminating taxes on tips, Social Security and overtime pay. He also wants to extend the tax cuts he signed into law in 2017 that are said to expire next year. He asked for the continuation of the reduction of the tax for American companies from 21% to 15%, but only for companies that produce in the United States.
Trump has said he will pay for the drop in revenue with aggressive new tariffs that economists warn will lead to higher prices for consumers. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, said spending cuts could continue to be a sticking point between Trump and House Republicans. “That was never a Trump campaign promise, but it’s a priority for House Republicans,” he said.
There was no sense that hostilities were ending on Saturday. Some Republicans blamed the House leadership for not getting Trump’s “blessing” for the initial deal. Democrats cast Trump as second fiddle to Musk.
While Trump remained silent, Biden announced that he had signed the budget legislation. “This agreement represents a compromise, which means that neither side got everything they wanted,” he said. “But it rejects an accelerated path to the multibillion-dollar tax cuts that Republicans wanted, and ensures that the government can continue to operate at full capacity.”
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