The clock is ticking for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and the sand is quickly running out of the budget hourglass, and we seem no closer to getting a deal done.
Trump is now growing impatient, telling Johnson to figure it out and get a bill on his desk.
Trump has several problems regarding this bill, mostly centered around a budget deficit and his tariffs.
On two different occasions, a bipartisan group of senators has discussed legislation to block Trump from being able to use tariffs.
Trump is now facing defectors from the GOP, as Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) appear ready to dig in against Trump’s tariffs.
Collins stated, “It is not perfect, I think it’s too broad. But it sends the message that I want to send — that we really need to be far more discriminatory in imposing these tariffs.”
The deadline for the new budget is less than a month away, but we have seen little progress due to Trump's challenges within the GOP.
Johnson has stated that he wants a bill on Trump’s desk by Memorial Day, which is May 26, but that does not seem likely with the pace they are moving at.
Even so, Johnson stated, "This is not just a preference we have, this is a necessity.
"We have the debt limit X-date approaching, and as everybody knows, border security resources dwindling, we’ve got markets in flux, we’ve got, of course, the living threat of the largest tax increase on working families in history."
If Trump does not pass this budget, he will have some major problems, so now he is trying to give Congress a kick in the tail to motivate them to get the bill on his desk.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has now been brought into the picture to talk to the bill’s negotiators, stating, “The president has made his priorities clear. The House is moving things along quickly and the Senate is in lockstep.
“We think that they are in substantial agreement — and that this is gonna be a win for the American people, very pro-growth.”
This legislation is everything for Trump, as he needs it to get his agenda on track, and if they cannot get this bill on his desk and have to come up with yet another temporary spending bill, Democrats are likely to block that and shut down the government. So, once again, the GOP is its own worst enemy and biggest obstacle to overcome.
