'Republicans openly disagree': Trump allies fear 'infighting' could sink key legislative goal

08 January

President-elect Donald Trump has been calling for his GOP allies to pass "one powerful bill" that will tackle a variety of his legislative goals after he returns to the White House, from tax cuts to immigration and the U.S./Mexico border.

But some GOP senators, according to Politico, aren't as enthusiastic about the possibility of one big megabill as Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. And Bloomberg News reports that some Trump allies believe there is too much "infighting" among Republicans in Congress for the president-elect to get everything he wants on taxes in 2025.

In an article published on Wednesday, January 8, Bloomberg reporters Nancy Cook, Steven T. Dennis, and Billy House explain, "Republicans broadly agree that there's little room for error on what is a rare opportunity for the GOP to update the tax code without having to make any concessions to Democrats. There’s also time pressure: households and privately-held businesses will see their Internal Revenue Service bills rise if Congress doesn’t act by the end of the year. But Republicans openly disagree on how to meet that deadline."

The journalists add, "Hashing out those differences is likely to be a key topic of conversation later Wednesday when Trump meets with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill."

Cook, Dennis, and House note that Stephen Miller, Trump's pick for deputy White House chief of staff, has "pushed lawmakers to first pursue a border security bill" — and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) agrees.

"That pits them against House Republicans, many of whom want to cram all the party’s legislative goals — immigration, energy production and taxes — into a singular bill," according to the Bloomberg News journalists. "That's an approach that yields to the reality that the tiny House GOP majority — a fractious group of lawmakers willing to torch members of their own party during heated disputes — will have a hard time passing even one bill, let alone two."

Cook, Dennis and House point out that near the end of the 2024 presidential race, Trump, "promised to extend the personal tax cuts from 2017 and expand the state and local tax deduction, while also creating new tax breaks like no taxes on tips, overtime pay or Social Security checks."

"Trump has vowed to Wall Street executives that he would reduce the corporate tax rate to as low as 15 percent," the Bloomberg reporters observe. "That laundry list of promises surprised even some of his closest economic advisers, who privately said Trump was unlikely to turn all of this rhetoric into reality."

Read Bloomberg News' full article at this link (subscription required).

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