Senate Republicans plead with Trump: We need your help

Late. John Kennedy (R-La.) urged President-elect Donald Trump to come to Washington to help House Republicans pass a spending deal as a potential government shutdown looms.

Capitol Hill has been thrown into chaos after Trump and his close adviser, the tech billionaire Elon Musk, torpedoed a bipartisan spending deal it would have lasted government funded until mid-March. Congressional leadership unveiled the deal on Tuesday, but conservatives and Trump allies railed against the deal for including too much spending.

With just a slim majority in Congress, House Republicans would need to agree on a deal to avoid a partial government shutdown on Friday.

But Kennedy expressed little optimism Thursday on “FOX & Friends” that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) could unite the GOP House caucus alone.

“If I were king for a day… here’s what I’d do. First, I’d tell everyone to take their medicine. Number two, I think President Trump is going to have to consider coming to Washington ,” Kennedy said Thursday. “Let’s face it, he’s president now. It’s not President Biden. President Trump needs to sit down with Mike Johnson and John Thune and come up with a new thin CR.”

“If the president wants to do something on the debt limit, we’re going to have to figure out what it is and put it on the bill, and then the president is going to have to help Mike sell it in the House,” he added.

Musk spent most of Wednesday railing against the bipartisan spending deal. Hours later Trump and Vice President JD Vance issued a joint statement opposes the deal and demands that the House raise the debt ceiling before Trump takes office next month. While Musk and other Trump allies blasted the legislation, Johnson spent most of Wednesday trying to defend the agreement he helped negotiate.

Kennedy went on to compare some House Republicans to “free-range chickens.”

“Speaker Johnson’s problem is on the Republican side. He has a bunch of free-range chickens. I’m not criticizing them, but they wander off and Mike can’t catch them all himself,” he added.

When asked if Johnson could be chairman, Kennedy reiterated that Johnson cannot control the Republicans.

“There’s one person who can control the Republican caucus in the United States House of Representatives right now, and that’s Donald J. Trump. That’s my best guess at this point. Could that change, but it can’t,” Speaker Johnson said he.

“Obviously, he hasn’t been able to do that, it’s not his fault. I mean, I’m not sure anyone could, but he can’t rally all the Republicans in the House, and to pass CR he has to do it without Democratic support. But I think President Trump could and I hope he will consider coming to Washington. He’s not the president.” he said.