But Republicans don’t have a large margin in either the Senate or the House of Representatives. When the dust settles on appointments for the Trump administration the House, though in GOP control, the margin could be as little as one seat or two seats.
Regardless, Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), elected last month to chair the Republican Study Committee, sees the 119th Congress as a great opportunity.
“The American people spoke loud and clear, and they expect certain things to happen,” Pfluger said on Washington Watch Tuesday. “We do have a slim majority, but I look at that as an opportunity for the RSC to be the gatekeeper, the communicator, the educator.”
The committee has a unique role in that it’s the only regularly scheduled weekly meeting in which Republicans have “substantive policy discussion,” Pfluger told show host Tony Perkins.
As such Pfluger expects the committee to take on issues like border security, energy security and budget reconciliation very early in January when the next term begins.
Republicans, recently, haven’t always handled the slim majority well.
Spending can drive division
In 2022, Speaker Kevin McCarthy conceded a lot of power in his election bid. In winning the votes of the party’s most conservative wing he agreed that, moving ahead, any single member of the House could call for a motion to vacate the chair.
That worked against him in October of 2023 when Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) did just that in opposition to McCarthy’s approach to spending.
The chaos that followed led to McCarthy’s exit from the House and the emergence of Mike Johnson as Speaker.
In September the Republican-led House was unable to pass a continuing resolution that would have included the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act). The Save Act, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), would have required proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
Fourteen Republicans voted against the measure.
Pfluger says he isn’t sweating the slim margin.
“I think the RSC will play a pivotal role in not only holding meetings where we're discussing and debating and having dialogues on that policy, but also unifying that slim majority, getting behind good conservative policy and gaining the trust of the American people. I'm excited about the opportunity,” he said.
Border and spending top issues
The border, energy and spending will top the priority list when the next session begins.
Pfluger’s Texas 11th District includes the Permian Basin, known for its rich deposits of petroleum, natural gas and potassium. Covering 75,000 square miles, it’s the largest secure supply of oil and gas in the world.
“But when it comes to American energy dominance, President Biden has tried to kill that for the last four year and has used every tool available,” Pfluger said.
Continuing resolutions and omnibus spending packages has resulted in “trillions of dollars” in unaccountable spending, Pfluger said.
“We're going to claw those back. We're going to make sure that the revenues that should rightly be going to the government are captured, that the tax rates are lowered, that we can capitalize on the gains that were made in 2017 and get the economy back in gear,” Pfluger said. “We know that we have so much potential and households are hurting right now.”
The U.S. government's national debt is currently $36 trillion, or 36,000 billions, and is adding $1 trillion to that number every 100 days.
The border will come first; it was Trump’s biggest campaign platform. The biggest thing the RSC can do there is to support Trump and his policies, Pfluger said.
Rebuilding the military
Beyond the first three initiatives the RCS will also influence foreign policy, said Pfluger, hinting at changes in the U.S. military.
“We live in a dangerous world. It doesn’t take long to look across the world and see turmoil. Peace through strength is a must,” he said.
The RSC will play a key role in “our military prowess, how we recapitalize and add lethality and readiness back into the lexicon for our military professionals and how we deter would-be enemies and adversaries because our strength, survival and way of life depend on that fact.”
Finally, Pfluger said prayer is essential to make sure that priorities are in order and that the committee is “tackling the right issues to get to the heart of the things that are preventing our country and preventing Americans from our full potential.”
