GOP rifts open over Trump agenda as legislative landmines await new Congress

For more on the GOP agenda in the new Congress, watch CNN’s “Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju” this Sunday at 8 a.m. ET and 11 a.m ET.

For more on the GOP agenda in the new Congress, watch CNN’s “Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju” this Sunday at 8 a.m. ET and 11 a.m ET. Republicans from Capitol Hill to the White House are battling internally over the basic tenets of Donald Trump’s first 100-day agenda — including which priorities should come first — in a preview of the landmines looming over the GOP’s ambitious agenda despite controlling all of Washington. John Thune, the incoming Senate majority leader, is preparing to move quickly on two of the president-elect’s top issues — border security and energy production — while punting on a tax bill until later in 2025. But that’s caused deep anger among some senior House members, who warn that waiting on the tax issue could mean killing it altogether. And there’s a push among some conservative Republicans to toss all of Trump’s priorities into one catchall bill. But GOP critics warn that doing so would cause such a plan to collapse under its own weight — especially given the complexities of tax policy coupled with tight margins in the House, where one Republican defection could scuttle the entire agenda. The GOP will operate with one of the smallest congressional majorities in history while contending with major deadlines like averting a government shutdown as early as March and a potentially catastrophic debt default next year. And with just six weeks until Inauguration Day, Republicans across the party are growing anxious over how to deliver on Trump’s priorities in some of the toughest possible political conditions. ”This is a once in a generational opportunity to do a lot of things,” said Sen. John Cornyn, a senior Texas Republican who served as the whip in Trump’s first term. “And I am not sure everyone is on the same page.”