How GOP Can Wage ‘War On Regulations’ With Trump’s ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill’
'Multigenerational change'
President Donald Trump lashed out at Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who said on Monday that he would vote against the GOP-led continuing resolution.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can afford to lose only one Republican vote on the CR given his party's historically narrow House majority. Democrats have also vowed to vote against the CR, leaving Johnson with the challenge of rallying every Republican behind the bill.
Massie, arguably the most principled fiscal conservative in Congress, already claimed the sole "no" vote the conference can spare, adding to the mounting pressure on Republicans. Trump, in turn, took to Truth Social to air his grievances.
'Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election. Guess what? Doesn’t work on me.'
"Congressman Thomas Massie, of beautiful Kentucky, is an automatic 'NO' vote on just about everything, despite the fact that he has always voted for Continuing Resolutions in the past," Trump said. "HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him."
"He's just another GRANDSTANDER, who's too much trouble, and not worth the fight," Trump added. "He reminds me of Liz Cheney before her historic, record breaking fall (loss!). The people of Kentucky won't stand for it, just watch."
While Trump's condemnation would have worked on most Republicans, Massie has been famously immune to the political pressures of GOP leadership, and that includes the president.
Behind the scenes, Republican leadership has been hustling to get the CR passed.
"Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election," Massie said. "Guess what? Doesn’t work on me. Three times I’ve had a challenger who tried to be more MAGA than me. None busted 25% because my constituents prefer transparency and principles over blind allegiance."
Massie is always considered an immovable "no" vote in every spending fight, leaving the rest of the Republican conference to sink or swim. Apart from Massie, several Republicans are still on the fence about Tuesday's CR vote, including Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Cory Mills of Florida, Tony Gonzales of Texas, Rich McCormick of Georgia, Beth Van Duyne of Texas, Kat Cammack of Florida, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
Despite some holdouts, Johnson is gunning for a repeat of February's reconciliation vote, where Republicans voted in lockstep to get the budget blueprint passed, with Massie as the only exception.
Behind the scenes, Republican leadership has been hustling to get the CR passed.
OMB Director Russ Vought met with members of the House Freedom Caucus and adjacent fiscal conservatives in early March to pitch the Trump-backed funding bill ahead of the vote, as Blaze News first reported. Trump also met with the same group 48 hours later in order to rally remaining Republican holdouts. As a result, the HFC officially endorsed the CR despite historically opposing CRs generally.
It's clear that Republicans are putting in the work. Now we will have to wait and see if it pays off.
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After many delays and much anticipation, Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled the 1,547-page continuing resolution that Congress will need to pass in order to avert a government shutdown just days before Christmas.
The CR was originally supposed to be revealed before the weekend of December 14, but due to ongoing negotiations, the funding bill was not actually revealed until Tuesday night. Although the CR had already become the subject of scrutiny due to the timing and the lack of transparency, the funding bill is now expected to have even more defections after the text of the funding bill was actually made public.
'Soon they will have to face the American people and say, "We've tacked on hundreds of billions of dollars onto the debt because it was easier for us."'
"I had hoped to see Speaker Johnson grow a spine, but this bill full of pork shows he is a weak, weak man," Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said in a Wednesday post on X. "The debt will continue to grow. Ultimately the dollar will fail. Democrats are clueless and Big Gov Republicans are complicit. A sad day for America."
"Conservative Republicans should start an OnlyFans account considering how often we get screwed," Republican Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida said in a Tuesday post on X. "The CR is a bad deal."
‘Twas three days before the gov't shutdown
And I’m at my desk
On page 54 of this 1,547 page mess.
The CR is garbage
Chocked full of carnage.
I’ll be a hard no
I won’t stoop that low.
— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) December 18, 2024
Despite having the December 20 deadline on their calendars for months, leaders left the CR on the back burner. Consequently, lawmakers are frustrated that they are now forced to vote on a funding bill just days before the deadline.
"Congress has had months to negotiate a clean government funding bill to get us to Trump's term," Republican Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas said in a Tuesday post on X. "Yet, here they are again at the last second trying to jam a 1,500+ page CR that could be called for a vote before the required 72 hour rule. The DC Apparatus operates not on transparency, but behind closed doors away from the American people."
"There is no strategy," Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of Power the Future, told Blaze News. "The goal here is just for them to all go home for Christmas and to promise the American people that next year they will tackle it. That's been the strategy, or the regular operations of Capitol Hill, for the last 20 years."
The CR itself contains numerous provisions that are unrelated to the bare-bones approach many fiscal conservatives had hoped for. The funding bill includes the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009 as well as an opt-out from Obamacare, $100 billion of disaster relief for hurricane victims, $30 billion of aid for farmers, and a crucial provision transferring the Robert F. Kennedy stadium to the District of Columbia.
In short, Johnson threw together a Christmas omnibus for lawmakers to deal with in the 11th hour.
While it's not unusual for Congress to put out a Christmas omnibus, Johnson notably said he would take it upon himself to break the tradition.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) listen during a Hanukkah reception at the US Capitol Building on December 17, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"We have broken the Christmas omni," Johnson said during a press conference in September. "And I have no intention of going back to that terrible tradition. So there won’t be a Christmas omnibus. ... We’re not gonna do any buses.”
"People call me 'NostraThomas' for accurately predicting Speaker Johnson would use the Christmas recess to force a massive spending bill through Congress," Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said in a Wednesday post on X. "After claiming he would not, Johnson is embracing a D.C. tradition that's nearly as old as decorating Christmas trees."
The Christmas omnibus will kick the can down the road until mid-March, roughly 100 days into President-elect Donald Trump's administration. Trump's hands are tied as a result, giving him and his administration no control over the budget for the first 100 days, weakening his ability to implement the MAGA mandate Americans voted for.
"It's always next year, and it's very frustrating," Turner told Blaze News. "When you see the American people gave a very decisive mandate on spending, on the cost of food, on the cost of energy, on the cost of goods and services, and still they're tacking on just absurd amounts of spending to make their jobs easier."
"Soon they will have to face the American people and say, 'We've tacked on hundreds of billions of dollars onto the debt because it was easier for us,'" Turner continued. "But it's not your job to do it the easy way. It's your job to do it the right way."
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During a Thursday House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing featuring TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, GOP Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida highlighted a video on the platform that she described as a "direct threat" to the members of the committee.
But not long thereafter, the video had been removed from the platform.
The video, which featured what appeared to be an animation of a handgun firing, included a message that read, "Me asf at the, House Energy and Commerce Committee on 03/23/2023" — the post also included a hashtag with the name of the committee chair, Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington.
"You couldn't take action after 41 days when a clear threat, a very violent threat ... was posted on your platform. You damn well know that you cannot protect the data and security of this committee or the 150 million users of your app because it is an extension of the CCP," Cammack declared.
Later during the hearing, Chew indicated to Democratic Rep. Tony Cárdenas of California that the content had been taken down.
None— (@)
At another point in the hearing, Chew failed to provide a direct response when Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona repeatedly pressed him about whether he agreed "that the Chinese government has persecuted the Uyghur population."
The congresswoman accused Chew of engaging in evasiveness on what she described as an "easy question."
Rather than offering a straightforward response, Chew described it as "concerning to hear about all accounts" regarding abuse of human rights, but said that he was at the hearing to discuss TikTok, and claimed that the platform allows users to express their opinions on all issues, including the topic at hand.
During her opening remarks at the hearing, committee chair Rodgers outright called for banning the social media platform. "Your platform should be banned," she declared.
"TikTok: How Congress Can Safeguard American Data Privacy and Protect Children from Online Harms" www.youtube.com
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