'A bumpy ride': Republican extremists and moderates unite to defy Trump

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15 May

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to the press on board Air Force One en route to Doha, Qatar, May 14, 2025.

A long-simmering Republican Party feud is threatening to derail President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Representatives from either ideological end of the GOP U.S. House conference, hard right and moderate center, told Raw Story on Wednesday work on the GOP’s contentious spending bill, covering tax and spending cuts and enshrining Trump's hardline immigration policy, remains a long way from done.

“This one isn't real close,” said Andy Harris (R-MD), chair of the hard-right Freedom Caucus. “It’s not ready for prime time.”

“This as it stands, I’ve been very clear, does not have my support,” said Mike Lawler (R-NY), a prominent moderate demanding a raise in the cap on SALT, the state and local tax deduction key to Republicans from prosperous, Democratic-led states.

“I know the speaker is trying,” Lawler added. “I know he's going to continue to negotiate in good faith. But as this stands right now, I am a no, and so they're going to need to come up with a solution quickly if they want to stay on the schedule they have.”

Speaker Mike Johnson first wanted to get the budget — containing all Trump's spending priorities in “one big beautiful bill” – done by Memorial Day, towards the end of May. Amid marathon mark-up sessions and seemingly endless negotiations, that target has slipped to the next big holiday: July 4.

Republicans control the House 220-213, with two Democratic seats vacant. Johnson cannot afford many nos.

A main aim of the Republican measure, which when passed will have to be reconciled with a Senate version, is to extend tax cuts passed under the first Trump administration in 2017. It’s also needed to fund the deportation force Trump is bent on unleashing nationwide.

Right-wingers want to secure such tax cuts while slashing federal spending and reducing the federal deficit. More moderate members see the need to raise the SALT cap and threats to impose major cuts to Medicaid as threatening serious damage back home.

Other members of the Freedom Caucus voiced their skepticism to Raw Story.

“I'm not flexing this because I'm trying to get something to South Carolina,” said Ralph Norman (R-SC). “I'm trying to get the math in order to get this country back on track financially. And it just hadn't happened.”

Eric Burlison, of Missouri, predicted ongoing “negotiations and discussions” and voiced support for Ron Johnson, the rightwing Wisconsin senator who on Tuesday said the bill could go down “like the Titanic.”

“Ron Johnson, he has doubts on this, and he's right to have doubts,” Burlison said, adding that he “expect[s] the Senate to be more squishy than us.”

Republicans control that chamber 53-47.

Burlison said the budget talks presented “an opportunity to fix Medicaid … an opportunity to do a lot of reform that we're leaving on the table.

“This Medicaid situation is unsustainable,” he said, before raising a familiar Republican boogeyman: “California has figured it out. California gets more money from the federal government and Medicaid than Florida spends on their entire state budget.

“It's crazy … they're gaming the system, they're gaming the federal government, and then this bill is going to lock in that gamesmanship that blue states like California and New York have been playing and that's what's frustrating to me.

“We have the opportunity to fix this stuff or get the United States government on a financially balanced footing, and we're not taking advantage of this opportunity.”

Jason Smith (R-MO) is chair of the House Ways and Means Committee — one of the most stressful jobs on Capitol Hill right now.

He insisted that “we’re gonna get it done” and if it’s “a bumpy ride, the whole ride, everyone should expect that.”

“I’m OK for whatever passes the bill,” Smith said, adding: “I will do whatever is necessary. I've said it all along … I'll do whatever this takes.”

Lawler and his fellow New Yorker Nick LaLota would like Smith and other leaders to give ground on SALT.

“People are passionate to support their constituency,” said LaLota, who held his Long Island seat last year by beating the CNN host John Avlon.

“Their passion [is] to put this great country back on the right track. That that passion has led to some frustrations is totally fine. I think we'll get there.

“I think we all want to come to a deal ultimately, but it's got to be a deal that's both good for my constituents and the country.

“My constituents helped pay for the 2017 tax cuts when [Republican leaders] capped SALT unfairly at $10,000. The bill was placed on districts like mine to pay for the rest of the nation's prosperity. We can't make that mistake” again."

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