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Donald Trump's advice to Republicans opposed to ‘phenomenal’ budget bill: ‘Close your eyes and get there’
Donald Trump warned that it would be a “disaster” for Republicans and the country if the “one big, beautiful bill” does not make it out of the lower chamber.
Donald Trump asked House Republican lawmakers who are opposed to a Senate-passed budget resolution to “close your eyes and get there,” urging them to back the measure. Talking at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual dinner, Trump warned that it would be a “disaster” for Republicans and the country if the “one big, beautiful bill” does not make it out of the lower chamber.
“They have to get there,” Trump said, according to the New York Post. “And I think we are there. We had a great meeting today. I think we are there.”
“But just in case there are a couple of Republicans not there – you just gotta get there, close your eyes and get there!” Trump added.
“It is a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding,” the president further said.
At least 10 House Republicans have suggested they will not be supporting the budget framework. Some have even publicly slammed the resolution, The Hill reported.
Hard-line conservatives are afraid that the Senate version of the bill directs lawmakers to make $4 billion in spending cuts, whereas the House seeks at least $1.5 trillion in reductions. Some House Republicans criticised the Senate for assuming that the extension of tax cuts enacted during Trump’s first term is not going to add to the federal deficit.
Trump went on to dismiss Republicans holding out for a “little bit more” in spending cuts. He argued that if they wish to pass a bill, “You end up getting nothing.”
‘It’s an embarrassment of riches’
At the same event where Trump delivered his speech, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) described the Senate bill as “one of the most consequential pieces of legislation that Congress has passed in decades – and perhaps in the history of the Congress.” He said that the new seven-seat GOP majority in the House “means that we can lose three votes now and still pass a bill.”
“It’s an embarrassment of riches,” Johnson joked. “I tell you, this job is so easy.”
Trump, meanwhile, said he believes his recent tariff policy would prompt Republicans to vote for the bill. “I have to say, it’s going to be legendary,” he said of the reciprocal tariffs. “But I really think it actually puts pressure on those few Republicans that just can’t get there.”
Talking about the controversial policy, Trump said that the US is “making a fortune with tariffs – $2 billion a day.” “Only the enemy can be talking this way,” the president said of people who are opposing his tariff plan. “Many countries have ripped us off left and right. But now it’s our turn to do the ripping.”
It was announced before Trump delivered his speech that the NRCC, the fundraising arm of House Republicans, had raised $35 million for GOP campaigns that evening. Trump said that the GOP fundraising bonanza, as well as Democrats’ “bad policy,” has made the way for a “monumental victory for Republicans in the midterms.”
“We’re going to win the midterm elections in a tremendous, thunderous landslide,” Trump said.
“We got to win. There is no way [the Democrats] should be winning based on policy,” he added. “Democrats have gone crazy.”
