Debates over Greenland, Obamacare and the Epstein dossiers show cracks in Republican ranks. Here’s what else Trump will have to deal with.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly talked about taking Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark. Why does he want the icy island so badly?
WASHINGTON — In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, he got almost everything he wanted from the Republican-led Congress.
He passed a massive tax and spending bill with sweeping domestic policy reforms. Most of his cabinet was confirmed, despite some of the controversial people he nominated. He convinced lawmakers to erode significant legal checks on his power. And he has massively culled the federal government, with little resistance from those within his party.
But the political winds have shifted early in his second year, coinciding with midterm elections that recent history suggests will not go his way. And that ever-reliable Republican loyalty looks much less rock-solid.
That said, Republican lawmakers, especially in the Senate, have already made certain red lines clear. They pushed back hard last fall against Trump’s push to end that chamber’s 60-vote threshold, known as the filibuster. Previously, they refused to let the president force them to scrap a century-old standard called “blue slips,” which allows senators to object to certain presidential candidates in their home states.
Then came the Jeffrey Epstein firestorm. It may be the first time since Trump returned to the White House that it was Republicans in Congress who forced him into an uncomfortable political position — supporting the release of Justice Department files related to the notorious sex trafficker — rather than the other way around.
Amid the controversy, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, previously a staunch Trump defender, had a major falling out with her party’s standard-bearer. She announced she would resign from Congress, just as other Republicans were also heading for the exit. When lawmakers returned for the new year, a tragic death further reduced the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, at least temporarily.
All these factors have created a dynamic in Congress in which the strength of Republican dissent is increasing, especially as the midterm elections approach, which historically pose problems for the party in power.
Here are five lessons from the first week of the new year, as elected U.S. lawmakers returned to their jobs in Washington.
A shrinking majority
The Republican majority in the House of Representatives shrank even further when lawmakers returned from their vacation. Greene’s resignation took effect, leaving her seat open until a special election later this year. Additionally, California Representative Doug LaMalfa died suddenly on January 5 at the age of 65 after a medical emergency.
The shifts left the ratio of Republicans to Democrats in the House of Representatives at 218-213, while 216 were needed to maintain a majority amid the continued vacancies. That two-vote margin also includes Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky who regularly votes against Trump’s policies.
Voting in Venezuela and a possible red line in Greenland
Foreign policy is also fracturing the Republican party.
Five Senate Republicans joined Democrats on January 8 to prevent the Trump administration from taking further military action in Venezuela without congressional approval. Trump immediately condemned them on social media, saying they should “never be elected again.”
While most Republicans publicly support the White House’s actions in Venezuela so far, Greenland is a different story. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said on January 7 that there was “zero support” among Republican senators for the prospect of US military action to take over the territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. While Trump administration officials have not said this is likely and have indicated the US is keen to purchase the island, they have not explicitly ruled out an incursion after being asked several times since the Venezuela operation.
“I would like to make a deal the easy way,” Trump said on January 9. “But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”
Headaches in healthcare
After years of Republican unity against Obamacare, the landmark 2010 health care law has recently become a source of friction between moderate conservatives and hardliners in Congress.
On January 8, 17 Republicans deviated from Republican leaders’ wishes to pass a Democratic bill that would restore and extend health care subsidies for Obamacare enrollees that expired at the end of last year, raising premiums for millions of Americans. While the legislation faces an uphill battle in the Senate, the bill’s success in the House of Representatives underscores the difficult political situation Republican lawmakers find themselves in as their constituents face higher health care costs.
Epstein’s fallout continues
Frustrations show no sign of abating anytime soon over the Justice Department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Lawmakers from both parties have accused the agency of withholding documents that are legally required to be made public (the DOJ says it is fully following the law within the constraints of time and resources).
Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick told USA TODAY in December that if the Trump administration did not release all of the Epstein files by the original Dec. 19 deadline, Congress would have to intervene again.
“Then we will have to look at it again, and we will have to bring more bills to the table,” he said.
Democrats are wary of another shutdown
As lawmakers wade through a maze of policy challenges this month, they are removing at least one crisis from their agenda: The prospect of another government shutdown looks increasingly less likely ahead of the Jan. 30 funding deadline.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, has said Republican appropriators are working with Democrats and are “making good progress.” The last government shutdown lasted a record 43 days before it could be resolved in November.
Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
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