Members of the House Freedom Caucus are meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate to discuss his legislative agenda and make their case for the policies they prefer, which sometimes conflict with his own.
Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., said the members of the conservative group will ask Trump Friday how they can help him achieve what he wants "but, at the same time, manage for the fiscal conservatives who don't want to raise the debt too high [and] don't spend too much," reports The Hill.
The meeting comes as Republicans are working on legislation for Trump's agenda on tax cuts, the border, energy, and other issues, which they are aiming to push through with the reconciliation process that would bypass the need for support from Democrats.
However, to do that, the process will need support from all House Republicans, as the chamber's thin majority means opposition from a few Republicans can stop the legislation.
The Freedom Caucus has often pushed for more conservative legislation by using that tactic.
Republicans already disagree on whether to pass Trump's agenda legislation in "one big, beautiful bill," as he refers to it, or through two bills.
The Freedom Caucus prefers the two-bill solution.
"I'm obviously going there to hear what the president has to say," said Rep. Elijah Crane, R-Ariz., a caucus member. "I think I'll be advocating for a two-step reconciliation process that has actual deficit reductions in it and spending cuts."
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., another Freedom Caucus member, said he is concerned about the bill's timeline.
"The issue is, by the time you put everything in one bill, the time, the horizon to get it done is going to be much more complicated," he said. "If you're wanting to move something quickly, break it into two smaller pieces."
However, he stressed that the nation's financial issues won't be fixed immediately.
"We didn't get to $36 trillion overnight," said Ogles. "We're not going to fix it overnight."
Trump has also called for raising the debt ceiling, including a demand to add an increase as part of the short-term funding bill passed in December. However, many Republicans do not want to raise the national debt limit unless it is offset by spending cuts.
Republicans reached an agreement that raises the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, in exchange for $2.5 trillion in net spending cuts in the reconciliation package.
Crane said he wants the two-bill approach so that Trump's agenda can be acted upon quickly while ensuring as many cuts as possible. He also said that if there is just one bill, it will be weaker because of the compromises that could be needed.
In addition to meeting with the Freedom Caucus, Trump plans to meet lawmakers whose main concern in the reconciliation legislation is to increase the state and local tax deduction cap put in place through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the meetings at Mar-a-Lago were Trump's idea.
"It was his idea to bring in small groups of House Republicans to come together and just have fellowship together and talk about the issues and talk about the vision that we have for the year ahead of us," Johnson said. "The president would like to host every single House Republican. In fact, that's what he told me. The problem is he's limited by the calendar, but I think, at some point over the next few weeks, he will have visited with all House Republicans. That's his goal."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.