Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) won’t let Donald Trump out of his sight as Republicans clash over how to pass the president’s agenda.
Johnson has made a habit of appearing with Trump at sporting events — a UFC fight in November, a college football game in December, and, on Sunday, the Super Bowl — since his reelection to the White House. He’s also made repeated trips to Florida, most recently hosting a House retreat at Trump’s Doral resort.
The visits helped convince Trump that Congress should pass his agenda in “one, big beautiful bill” that sweeps together tax reform with money for the border and defense.
But Johnson is at risk of losing that support as Senate Republicans, also cozying up to Trump, lobby for a two-part plan that punts tax cuts until later in the year.
The jockeying was on display Sunday as both Johnson and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared together in Trump’s box at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Graham, leading the charge on a two-part approach, also joined Senate Republicans for dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night and then played a round of golf with Trump the following day.
For now, Trump favors the one-bill strategy, seeing it as the cleanest approach given Johnson has a bare two-seat majority in the House.
But the Senate is betting that Trump will soon grow impatient with Johnson. He is one, and maybe two, weeks behind on releasing a bill framework despite days of negotiations at the Capitol and White House.
“We might push it a little further because the details really matter,” Johnson said on Sunday, telling Fox News that House Republicans were “very, very close.”
“I’ve got to make sure everyone agrees before we bring the project forward, that final product, and we’ve got a few more boxes to check,” he added.
Senate Republicans are making the case to Trump that it will take months for the House to negotiate something as complicated as tax reform. Instead, Graham, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, has proposed a border and defense bill that Trump can sign in his first 100 days.
The Budget Committee will vote on the $342 billion framework, the first step in a legislative process called reconciliation, later this week.
Johnson downplayed the impasse between the two chambers on Monday, going so far as to claim that he and Graham were “on the same page” on the budget process.
But the comments only further exposed the simmering tensions, with Graham soon tweeting that his “dear friend” Johnson was ignoring the reality of the situation.
“Like President Trump, I prefer ‘one big beautiful bill’ that provides funding to implement the Trump border security agenda and a boost in military spending, makes the Trump tax cuts permanent and includes substantial spending reductions,” Graham posted on X.
“That is my preference, but reality is something altogether different,” he added.
Johnson has an enormous challenge before him. Not only does the Senate oppose his strategy, but so does the conservative Freedom Caucus and key figures in the Trump White House.
The Freedom Caucus has engaged with House leadership, demanding $2.5 trillion in spending cuts upfront before allowing Johnson to proceed with a one-bill framework.
But the group of hard-liners are also working at cross purposes. On Monday, the caucus released a separate framework that broadly aligns with Graham’s.
White House officials including Stephen Miller, Trump’s domestic policy adviser, support a border-first strategy as well.
Johnson has escaped past congressional infighting by turning to Trump. The president was critical to his reelection as speaker in January and, before that, surviving an ouster attempt last May.
But Trump also shies away from the nitty-gritty of how legislation is passed and has repeatedly signaled openness to the Senate’s proposal despite his one-bill endorsement.
Ultimately, Johnson is giving space to House tax writers who fear their renewal of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts cannot pass without deal-sweeteners like border security.
On Thursday, a cross-section of House Republicans huddled at the White House to hear Trump lay out his priorities, including new tax exemptions on tip wages and overtime pay.
Johnson is at risk of being outflanked, however, if he falls too far behind his self-imposed goal of sending a bill to Trump’s desk by Memorial Day.
He has a closer relationship with Trump than John Thune (R-SD), the new Senate majority leader, but the upper chamber is full of Republicans who have Trump’s ear, among them Thune advisers like Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Steve Daines (R-MT).
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Trump has also visited with senators repeatedly on his visits to Capitol Hill.
“He’s getting a lot of wise counsel, a lot of advice,” Johnson quipped in his Fox News interview. “But at the end of the day, the House has to drive this process, and we will — we’ll get everyone together.”
