Sen. Kennedy calls on Trump to step in on spending bill showdown: ‘One person’ who can unite GOP

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., is calling on President-elect Donald Trump to step in and “control” the GOP caucus as a massive interim spending bill and partial government shutdown looms over Washington.

Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Kennedy suggested Trump is the only person capable of reining in the GOP, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., needs his help to make things happen in D.C.

“There’s one person that can control the Republican caucus in the United States House of Representatives right now, and that’s Donald J. Trump,” he said on “Fox & Friends.” 

“Could that change? Sure, but Speaker Johnson cannot [control the caucus]. It’s clear he hasn’t been able to do so. It’s not his fault. I’m not sure anybody could, but he can’t get all the Republicans together in the House and, in order to pass the C.R., he’s got to do that without Democratic support.”

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“I think President Trump could,” he continued. “And I hope he’ll consider coming to Washington.”

As of Thursday, the U.S. national debt – a measure of what U.S. taxpayers are on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – stood at $36,189,345,826,140.62, with the number continuing to climb at a rapid pace. A $2 trillion deficit is also predicted for 2025.

Kennedy called on the president-elect to sit down with Speaker Johnson and incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to come up with a new “skinny C.R. [continuing resolution]” that is more digestible to conservatives who opposed its exorbitant spending.

“Let’s face it, he’s the president now,” Kennedy said of Trump, who doesn’t take office until Jan. 20. “It’s not President Biden.”

“If the president wants to do something on the debt limit, we need to find out what it is and put it in the bill. Then the president’s going to have to help Mike sell it in the House… Speaker Johnson’s problem is that, on the Republican side, he’s got a bunch of free-range chickens. I’m not criticizing them, but they wander off and Mike can’t catch all of them by himself,” he said.

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Conservative opposition sent lawmakers back to the drawing board to chart a new path forward.

President-elect Trump’s pick to co-chair his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk, also opposed the measure as it was, even calling for lawmakers who supported the bill to lose their seats.

Trump’s transition team also released a joint statement by Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance opposing the initial iteration of the deal. 

Kennedy said he also saw the bill as problematic.

“It’s a multiple vehicle pile-up,”  he said. 

“I knew as soon as I saw the bill there was going to be trouble. The thing was as big as a Costco.”