'Republican on Republican crime': How Trump could serve Dems the midterms 'on a silver platter'
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) leads a prayer next to President Donald Trump, on the National Day of Prayer, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 1, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
A CNN panel on Tuesday detailed the ongoing saga among congressional Republicans regarding President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” — a sprawling budget plan the White House hopes will tackle the president’s largest tax priorities, including no tax on tips or Social Security.
Last week, CNN detailed House GOP infighting regarding Trump’s budget priorities as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tried to sell members of his caucus on “on a contentious plan — backed by the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and others — to sharply reduce Medicaid payments to states that expanded the program under Obamacare.”
“[Johnson's] push drew a rebuke from multiple centrists in the room, who believed that idea was already off the table,” CNN reported.
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Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) told CNN in the aftermath of that meeting he doesn’t “want to be mean.”
“I think any time it looks like we’re actually hurting people, that’s gonna p——— off the American population. And if you p——— them off, they’re probably not going to vote for you,” Garbarino said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) blasted his colleagues for “burying their head in the sand and already trying to worry about elections next year, when the best way to win elections is to actually deliver.”
"We have to address Medicaid,” Roy argued. “My colleagues who are saying that they won't touch it are the same colleagues, by the way, who want their SALT caps increased.”
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Encapsulating the tensions within the Republican conference, Rep. Nick Lakota (R-NY) replied to Roy’s criticism with a simple and succint “boo-hoo.”
Speaking on CNN Tuesday, Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha called the GOP squabble “Republican on Republican crime”
“I was just sitting back eating my popcorn,” he said.
Republican strategist Ashley Davis warned “House Republicans are walking the plank on taking this vote.”
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CNN’s Phil Mattingly noted “the president has a lot of red lines that his administration has made clear has to be in the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ — no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, deductions for car loans”
“These are things that cost a lot of money,” Mattingly explained. “There are priorities that both Senate Republicans and House Republicans have on their own, that they are trying to squeeze into this ‘big, beautiful bill.’ This bill is going to cost a lot of money as is, because you’re extending those 2017 tax cuts while including the president's must-have red line items.”
“The view inside the White House has long been they ain't got no other choice,” Mattingly added before noting Democrats feel emboldened to fight the GOP in the midterms regardless of what happens with the budget bill.
“You might as well be serving up the Democrats on a silver platter at this point,” CNN host Erica Hill replied.
Watch the video below or at this link.
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