Bulwark reporter Joe Perticone says a rash of GOP calamities risks upsetting President Donald Trump’s ability to pass a budget this month, as well as fund the governance and operation of the newly decapitated nation of Venezuela.
“The administration’s capture of [Venezuelan leader Nicolás] Maduro, combined with its desire to ‘run’ the country in partnership with oil companies, is not another flash-in-the-pan story of the kind that has become synonymous with Trump’s presidencies,” writes Perticone. “If the White House goes forward with their plans, provisions for long-term oversight, new appropriations for U.S. diplomatic and military operations and other planning will all become immediate legislative necessities.”
These new Trump-sourced requirements, predicted Perticone, will heap additional problems on a Republican calendar “already over-encumbered with debates about health insurance subsidies, government funding deadlines, the executive branch’s compliance with the Epstein files disclosure legislation, and the fraught prospect of another reconciliation bill.”
Additionally, Perticone writes that government funding is once again set to expire at the end of January. Combine this with the ever-shrinking Republican majority in the House, with Republicans retiring or seeking office elsewhere, and a picture begins to emerge of a legislative agenda “being totally overwhelmed,” Perticone wrote.
“And it’s just getting harder for Speaker Mike Johnson,” said Perticone. “In the past 24 hours, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) formally resigned, House Republican Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) died suddenly, and Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) landed in the hospital after a car crash. Baird is expected to recover, but even counting him, the House GOP enjoys a tiny 218–213 majority. That’s a two-vote margin for error.”
Securing Republican attendance in the House is going to be both paramount and difficult. But the legislative agenda isn’t going to get any lighter out of respect for that fact.
Finally, it doesn’t help that Democrats mounted their strongest campaign in years in 2025, making health care and the economy top agenda items and winning special elections by startling margins.
“It has forced more independent-minded Republicans to break ranks and push GOP leadership into an uncomfortable corner where they know the party has no consensus or path forward on lingering policy issues,” Perticone said.
Read the Bulwark report at this link.
