Free Republic

At least one Republican senator has said that the U.S. government cannot afford a Trump administration proposal to send out $2,000 tariff-derived rebate payments. “If we’re bringing in revenue through the tariffs, that ought to be applied to reduce the deficit, not just to make cash payments to Americans,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo on Monday. Bartiromo then told him: “It sounds like you would vote ‘no’ in terms of $2,000 checks going to individuals.” He added that “we can’t afford it” and that he wishes the U.S. government was “in a position to return the...

House Speaker Mike Johnson is reportedly not in good graces with President-elect Donald Trump. Johnson needs Trump’s support to keep the gavel on January 3, the day House Republicans will have an option to renew or cancel his speakership. Johnson appears on the outs with Trump due to his decision last week to try to pass a massive continuing resolution, filled with pork and at Democrat-raised spending levels. Trump torpedoed the measure and demanded a smaller bill with a debt level extension. Johnson’s response was to pass a bill without a debt level extension that only kept the government open...