WASHINGTON – After days of threats and demands, Donald Trump had little to show for it once lawmakers passed a law budget deal in the early hours of Saturday, narrowly averting a pre-Christmas mass government shutdown.
The president-elect successfully pushed House Republicans to jettison some spending, but failed to achieve his central goal of raising interest rates. debt limit. It showed that, despite his decisive election victory and frequent promises of retaliation, many members of his party are still willing to openly defy him.
Trump’s decision to wade into the budget debate a month before his inauguration also showed that he remains more adept at blowing up deals than making them, and foreshadowed that his second term will likely be marked by the same power struggles, chaos and mismanagement that characterized the budget debate. his first.
“Stay informed. Buckle up. Hold tight,” said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., a senior appropriator.
A look at Trump’s agenda shows a flood of possibilities for similar confrontations in the coming years. He wants to continue the tax cuts he signed into law seven years ago, reduce the size of government, raise tariffs on imports and crack down on illegal immigrants. Many of these efforts will require support from Congress.
For many Trump supporters, disruption could be their own end. Thirty-seven percent of those who voted for him this year said they wanted “complete and total unrest,” according to AP VoteCast, a broad survey of more than 120,000 voters. Another 56% said they wanted “substantial change.”
But in recent days it has become clear the difficulties Trump could face in quickly achieving his goals, especially now that Republicans have only a slim majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Some lawmakers already appear fed up with the apparent lack of a unified strategy.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said the budget battle was “a valuable lesson in how we can get our act together.”
“There are no layups and it gets more complicated,” he said.
How Trump’s Demands Failed
The trouble started when top lawmakers published a copy of the bill, known as a continuing resolution, needed to keep the federal government functioning until March. It was not the newly elected president, but Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and a Trump confidante, who first started stoking opposition to the legislation on social media by calling it excessive spending.
Trump eventually waded into the fray. He ordered Republicans to cancel the bipartisan deal they made with Democrats. And he demanded that they raise the debt limit — the limit on how much the government can borrow — in hopes of preventing this thorny issue from arising while he is in charge of the government.
He increased the pressure even as his demands changed. At first he wanted to abolish the debt limit completely. He then wanted to suspend it until 2027. Then he proposed an extension until 2029.
If there were a shutdown, Democratic President Joe Biden would take the blame, Trump insisted.
“All Republicans, and even Democrats, must do what is best for our country and vote “YES” on this bill TONIGHT! Trump wrote this Thursday, before a version of the bill that included a higher debt limit was voted on.
Instead, 38 Republicans voted no. It was a stunning confrontation with Trump, whose power over his party at times seemed almost absolute.
“Without this we would never have to make a deal,” he wrote on Truth Social, his social media site.
If he didn’t get what he wanted, Trump said, there would have to be a government shutdown. He also said members of his own party would face major problems if they refused to go along. He said that “Republican obstructionists must be rooted out.” He mentioned Rep. Chip Roy of Texas by name and insults.
But lawmakers ultimately abandoned that debt ceiling increase, and a final deal was struck early Saturday.
Musk and other Trump allies tried to cast it as a victory because the final legislation was significantly slimmed down and left out unpopular items like a pay raise for members of Congress. Charlie Kirk, the prominent conservative activist, wrote on X that Trump “is already running Congress before he takes office!”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he had been in “constant contact” with Trump, who, he added, was “certainly pleased with this outcome.”
If Trump agreed, he didn’t say so.
After days of frequent messages on social media, Trump fell silent again on Friday. He did not respond to the final vote or make any statements. Instead, he went golfing at his Florida resort.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, said the president-elect helped prevent an original deal “full of Democratic pork and pay raises for members of Congress.”
“In January, President Trump and DOGE will continue this important mission to reduce waste from Washington, one bill at a time,” she said. DOGE is a reference to the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory panel that will be led by Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
More clashes will follow
The circus-like atmosphere of the funding fight was reminiscent of Trump’s first term. At the time, a budget impasse led to a government shutdown as Trump demanded money for his U.S.-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, and 60% of Americans blamed him for the shutdown, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll at the time.
Trump then did not stop trying to bend the Republicans to his will. He certainly won’t do that now.
He’s ratcheting up pressure on his own party over his Cabinet choices, forcing reluctant Republican senators to go along with some of his most controversial picks, like anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Minister of Health and then Fox. News presenter Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.
Next year’s spending debates appear certain to further test Trump’s influence in the House of Representatives. Many conservatives view the rapid growth of the federal debt as an existential threat to the country that must be addressed. But some Republicans fear a backlash from voters if major cuts are made to the federal programs Americans rely on.
Concerns about deficits could increase if Trump implements expensive tax cuts he promised during the campaign, such as eliminating taxes on tips, Social Security and overtime.
He also wants to extend the tax cuts he signed in 2017, which expire next year. He has called for further action lowering the US corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, but only for companies that produce in the United States.
Trump has said he will pay for the revenue cuts with aggressive new tariffs that economists warn will lead to higher prices for consumers.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, said cutting spending will likely remain a rift between Trump and Republicans in the House of Representatives.
“That has never really been a Trump campaign promise, but it is a major priority for Republicans in the House of Representatives,” he said.
There was no sense that the hostility was subsiding on Saturday. Some Republicans blamed House leadership for failing to secure Trump’s “blessing” on the original deal. Democrats view Trump as second fiddle to Musk.
While Trump remained silent, Biden announced he had signed the budget legislation.
“This agreement represents a compromise, meaning neither side got everything they wanted,” he said. “But it rejects the accelerated path to tax cuts for billionaires that Republicans sought, and it allows the government to continue operating at full capacity.”
Bo reported from West Palm Beach, Florida, and Colvin from New York.
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