Trump Hands Johnson a Poisoned Chalice: His ‘Big, Beautiful’ MAGA Bill
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said congressional Republicans will try to push through a “big, beautiful bill” that will enshrine the core tenets of President-elect Donald Trump’s hardline MAGA agenda in one fell legislative swoop.
During a Sunday appearance on Fox News, Johnson tacked on an aggressive pledge to pass the mammoth legislation—which he said could touch on taxes, federal spending, energy, the border, regulations and “dismantling the deep state”—by Memorial Day.
“I think at the end of the day, President Trump is going to prefer, as he likes to say, one big, beautiful bill,” Johnson told Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo. “And there’s a lot of merit to that, because we can put it all together, one big up or down vote, which can save the country.”
The Speaker’s ambitions could soon be tested by the fact that Republicans have the smallest House majority in nearly a century, meaning it will take just one or two dissenting Republicans to tank a bill’s prospects.
That dynamic was on display during Johnson’s razor-thin reelection as speaker by a three vote margin on Friday, which required Trump’s personal intervention to get Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Keith Self (R-TX) to reverse their opposition.
Some Republicans have already made clear that they’re against a “big, beautiful bill. ”The House Freedom Caucus, basically the right-wing of the congressional right-wing, sent Johnson a letter in December insisting on two bills, one to deal with border security and a “larger reconciliation bill covering taxes, spending, energy, bureaucracy, and more.”
Johnson said he has talked with Trump “quite a bit” in recent months about “determining the pros and cons” of Republicans' varying preferences on one, giant bill and that they agreed with the one-size-fits-MAGA approach.
He did, however, say that House Republicans will pass some incremental border legislation addressing “low-hanging fruit” before Trump is inaugurated. Republicans in the Senate, namely leader John Thune (R-SD), have variously suggested their preference for multiple bills dealing with major issues one by one.
In addition to all the legislative haranguing, Johnson may also have to contend with persistent headaches from outside the Chamber, namely the torpedoing antics of Trump’s MAGA backer Elon Musk.
The billionaire Tesla CEO, who has said he is “almost always” sober during his erratic, late-night activity on his social media platform X, blew up a bipartisan spending bill Johnson negotiated with Democrats to keep the government running last month.
That kicked off a MAGA civil war that has since rippled out into a bitter feud over immigration policy between Trump’s tech bro pals like Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy and his nativist sycophants like Laura Loomer and Steve Bannon.
