A 48-HOUR PREVIEW INTO TRUMP’S SECOND TERM Appropriators and congressional leaders worked on bipartisan legislation for weeks. Staff drafted about 1,550 pages of text. And with one social media statement from President-elect Donald Trump, the bill was done — 48 hours before a shutdown deadline.
Currently, Congress looks like it’s on track to avoid a shutdown, or will only have one for a few hours before the Senate clears the new bill. But like it or not, the incredible chaos of the last three days is largely thanks to Trump, and Congress will have to figure out a way to handle his brand of bedlam for the next four years. Republicans are trying to game out how to pass huge priorities on the border, energy and taxes in party-line bills next year, and they’ll need virtually every GOP member on board to do it.
And as the past few days have illustrated, Trump’s not necessarily going to make that any easier. The incoming president’s social media posts might be able to kill a bill, but his backing doesn’t mean his party will pass it. And now, you’ve got Elon Musk clearly in the mix, too.
“I don’t know if this is what a trifecta is going to look like, but this is certainly what it's going to look like to have President Musk and First Lady Donald Trump controlling a Republican Congress,” said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) “You're going to see deals getting blown up, lying and reneging happening, deals being broken and Republicans being punked.”
Take the debt ceiling debate. If Trump had publicly called for raising the debt limit right after the election, it’s possible (though it would have been difficult) that Congress might have been able to come to an agreement in time. But the president-elect waited until two days before the deadline to make his demand, forcing Speaker Mike Johnson to put a doomed bill on the House floor. Now, Trump’s getting a handshake agreement among Republicans to address the debt ceiling next year — adding another area that could cause huge issues in the party, as they pledge to cut $2.5 trillion in mandatory spending.
“Can’t wait until we have to do this in March and then the debt ceiling at some point too. This is going to be a nightmare,” one senior Democratic leadership aide said Friday. It’s exactly the kind of legislative time bomb that members are nervous could keep happening next year — at the exact worst times for Republicans, when their majority is even smaller. But one senior Republican expressed optimism next year will be different.
“I don’t think it was that bad of communication,” said House Appropriation Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.). “I think it will get better." — Daniella Diaz and Nicholas Wu, with assist from Jordain Carney
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