'Get in line': Tensions heat up between Trump and GOP 'fiscal hardliners'

25 December 2024

During recent budget negotiations in the U.S. House of Representatives, President-elect Donald Trump not only clashed with Democrats — he also clashed with some GOP budget hawks, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).

Trump, unlike Roy, favored raising the debt ceiling. And when Roy rejected one of the spending bills that Trump supported, the president-elect called for a primary challenge against him.

In an article published the day before Christmas 2024, Politico's Jordain Carney describes the tensions between Trump and hardline Republican budget hawks in Congress — including some members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.

"Conservatives who want to slash the federal budget are hoping they can enlist President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk to their side come January," Carney explains. "But last week's meltdown over government funding underscored that Trump doesn't always share their fiscal restraint."

Carney adds, "Though Trump and Musk helped upend an initial bipartisan appropriations deal loathed by fiscal hardliners, 38 House Republicans later balked at Trump's big demand in the next bill: a looser limit on Washington's borrowing authority."

Another House Republican who voted against a Trump-supported spending bill was Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona).

Biggs told Politico, "We allow the bureaucracy to grow. We pass CR after CR. That's going to be where the Trump bully pulpit is going to come in and actually try to deal with some of this stasis, this problem."

In 2025, Trump, according to Carney, Trump could either "be effective at pushing for cuts if he wants" or could "end up amplifying the GOP's existing internal fights and cause more chaos."

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) told Politico, "I think unified government helps us, because I think President Trump is going to tell some of these guys, 'Get in line.'"

Read Politico's full article at this link.

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