By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves believes Congress will approve President Trump’s budget bill, but he believes it will return to the House with changes.
The Senate is considering the bill that passed by a single vote out of the House.
Graves, a Republican, says the bill is too important for Congress not to pass.
“This is a good thing,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “This is cutting a lot of unneeded spending, a lot of wasteful spending, and it’s cutting out the abuse. There’s so much abuse when it comes to a lot of these federal programs. They need to be looked at and looked at very carefully. But I think we’ll get it done.”
Graves expects Senate Republicans to make changes to the bill approved by the House. The Congressman believes a conference committee will have to resolved the differences between the Senate and House. Graves says the Republican-controlled Congress doesn’t have much negotiating room, because the House approved the bill by only one vote. Though Graves says the one-vote margin is a bit deceptive.
“There were two votes that they were just simply gone and were out of the chamber,” Graves explains. “So, there would have been two more votes, but that’s still a very narrow margin, very narrow margin.”
Also, the very public, high-profile spat between President Trump and former DOGE chair, billionaire Elon Musk, has complicated matters in DC. Musk has been highly critical of the bill, charging it will explode the debt. Some of Musk’s broadsides on social media have taken a very personal tone against the president.
Graves isn’t sure what to make of the disagreement which is being played out in public.
“Well, it’s a good question,” Graves says with a chuckle. “I think it comes down to egos, too. Two big egos in the room and they’re just pushing and shoving back and forth. I think that’s what it really all comes down to. But it is frustrating and it’s distracting more than anything else. But it’ll eventually go away.”
Graves doesn’t believe the dispute will derail the discussions.
“I really don’t think so. I don’t think it will,” Graves says. “But it’s certainly a distraction, though, to say the least.”
Graves does expect the Senate and House to resolve their differences.
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