Republican anxiety about Congress getting off to a fast start in the first few days of its session this week is immaterial because the GOP control of the House, Senate and the White House means that the overall general direction will be positive, Rep. Eric Burlison told Newsmax on Tuesday.
The Missouri Republican told "Wake Up America" that "I think a lot of this gnashing of the teeth and anxiety about what we are going to do in the first few days is irrelevant ... you are going to see some momentum in the right direction" due to controlling of Congress and the presidency."
He emphasized that on day one "we need to work on the first [budget] reconciliation package, which would include a lot of [President-elect Donald] Trump's election priorities — including the border and ... unleashing the American energy sector."
"The second one that we will begin immediately working on has to do with extending, if not making permanent, the Trump tax cuts," he added.
The congressman pointed out that there is a strategy to separate these two phases "because we want to get some early wins and if you try to make that first reconciliation package too heavy, the chances are that it may fail ... so keep it simple, keep it streamlined, get a big win for the American people and for Donald Trump and then we start working on the more complicated bill — which will be the tax cuts."
Burlison stressed that Congress is "going to have to make some very significant decisions, some very difficult decisions if we are actually going to reconcile the budget," adding that "if we are going to cut taxes, then we have to look for places to save money, and Congress historically has done a really bad job at finding place to make actual cuts."
However, he did say that this time around, "the desire, the appetite to cut taxes is enough, along with DOGE, to motivate Congress to make cuts."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE – See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.