Battle lines over Trump agenda intensify and put GOP leaders in a jam

Speaker Mike Johnson has relied on one strategy so far in his chaotic GOP House: Survive and advance.

Speaker Mike Johnson has relied on one strategy so far in his chaotic GOP House: Survive and advance. The Louisiana Republican notched another unlikely victory last week, convincing his most recalcitrant conservatives to back a budget blueprint they detested — all without losing the votes of moderates. With the first 100 days of the GOP Congress now behind him, Johnson is heading into a much bigger battle, this time over far thornier details of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda. But after Johnson’s public vow that the final bill would contain at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts — all without adding to the deficit and making Trump’s tax cuts permanent — some Republicans told CNN they’re not sure how Johnson gets through this next and most consequential round. “I’m not optimistic. When you get pen to paper and you see exactly what we’re doing, and then the hope that the Senate is gonna match us, you’ve got to be smoking dope,” one skeptical House GOP lawmaker told CNN, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly of intraparty dynamics. “This is a pipe dream if you think that Thune in the Senate is gonna be about to get to a trillion and a half cuts for them,” this lawmaker said, referring to Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Added Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York: “I don’t really believe that the number will be $1.5 trillion. I think that it probably will come in a little lower.”