Johnson challenges on budget have Senate bypassing House

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is under fire again, with some House members furious that it appears that Johnson will miss the anticipated budget deadline.

This has led to GOP members of the Senate taking it upon themselves to craft legislation, circumventing Johnson in the process.

Missed Deadline

Just a few days before Trump was sworn in, Speaker Johnson sounded like he had a firm plan to get a budget through the House and over to the Senate by the end of February.

Johnson told the caucus that he expected the framework for the budget to be completed before the House GOP retreat that was scheduled for the end of February.

Trump wants one massive bill, which would allow the Senate to use reconciliation to pass it.

This is likely the only way that Trump will be able to get some of his agenda passed before the mid-term elections, as there is no way he will ever get enough support in the Senate, with the GOP only having 53 seats (reconciliation only requires a simple majority, but it can only be used for budgetary legislation).

Getting Frustrated

In order for Johnson to deliver on his timeline, he would need the first bill to come out of the House by the end of this week, and that is now unlikely to happen.

There are already Republicans pushing back, with one stating, "The budget resolution is almost certainly not going to move through committee this week. Frankly, what was put forward by leadership at the retreat was so far off the mark – literally increasing deficits even further."

With Johnson once again failing to get all the members on the same page, he is likely going to miss the deadline, but the real worry here is the GOP not delivering on the promise to lower the deficit as well as the national debt.

The national debt is already over $36 trillion, and there is already a deficit of $710 billion for the current fiscal year.

Senators Step In

Senate Republicans are not going to sit around, and they are expected to advance their budget legislation in just a few days.

Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.0 stated, “It’s time for the Senate to move. Hopefully we’ll get started next week marking it up in committee.”

That is the least of Johnson’s worries, as the Senate does not really sound interested in passing a massive bill, with Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) stating, “I understand the desire for one big, beautiful bill, but it just wasn’t going to happen. It’s too complex.”

I expect that Trump wants to break the piggybank in his first year, but Republicans in both the House and Senate are not going to give him a blank check, with Senator Kennedy (R-LA) stating, “Just like the House, in the Senate, the resolution is not going to pass in my conference without substantial spending reductions.” Dig in, folks, because all hell is about to break loose on the Hill.