Republicans in disarray as GOP leadership engages in power struggle: report
Conservatives hoping to hit the ground running once Donald Trump is sworn in as president are facing a roadblock because House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and newly elected Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) can't get on the same page and are engaging in a battle of wills.
According to a report from Politico's Rachel Bade, the two GOP leaders have been butting heads about how to go about business now that Republicans have control –– albeit with thin margins –– in both chambers of Congress.
With Bade writing, "Johnson and Thune remain at loggerheads as Trump prepares to take the oath of office — risking delays in enacting President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda and hinting at potential trouble in what’s quickly shaping up to be one of the most important relationships in Washington," the report adds that battle-lines have already been drawn over Donald Trump's desire for a one-stop domestic policy bill.
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According to the report, "Johnson sketched out a plan to raise the federal debt ceiling as part of that one-bill effort," which was met with resistance from Thune.
The report notes that Thune warned Johnson his plan wouldn't work in the Senate but the House Speaker ignored him, went forward with making his plan public only to have Thune "pour cold water" on it with his own public proclamation that it was a non-starter.
Noting that battles between the two chambers are nothing new, Bade wrote, "the stakes right now could hardly be higher, with Trump’s agenda hanging in the balance and neither Johnson nor Thune fully yielding in ongoing strategic debates. While both men say they have a good rapport, tensions have trickled down, with their inner circles each beginning to snipe at the other side."
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