GOP faces 'political peril' as 'overlapping internal battles' hamstring party

A new CNN deep-dive poll showed Americans are fed up with rising costs, and it might be too late for Republicans to fix the problem. With GOP leaders mired in internal fights over a gas tax holiday, ballooning Iran war spending and a controversial $1 billion taxpayer-funded add-on tied to Trump’s White House ballroom, lawmakers are scrambling for a quick fix while voters blame the party in power. The result has been a lots of posturing, few concrete solutions and growing doubt that Congress can deliver meaningful relief before the midterms.

Politico reported Wednesday morning that the GOP is embroiled in "internal battles on Capitol Hill ... laying bare why Republicans are struggling to do anything about it."

Democrats proposed a gas tax holiday, which President Donald Trump indicated he supports. The problem, as one CNN panel discussed Tuesday, is that it is exceptionally rare that any legislation can pass the House and Senate despite Republicans holding the majority in both chambers. The second challenge is that Trump has been promising "checks" for Americans struggling to get by amid the crisis. None of those promises has come to fruition, CNN's Audi Cornish recalled.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) isn't certain if he supports the gas tax holiday, saying there could be “unintended consequences."

“Obviously, we all want to see gas prices come back down, and when the Iran conflict is resolved, they will, and they’ll come down quickly. I don’t think anybody disputes that," said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)

“You’re seeing the president work really hard to try to get this resolved,” he added. “Hopefully it’s soon.”

The final piece of legislation that could pass Congress is the funding for Trump's mass deportation program through Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Republicans now want to add on $1 billion in funding for Trump's ballroom under the guise that it is for "security."

Speaking to Republicans on Tuesday, the Secret Service said that the funding is more about security and training than for the ballroom itself. It's unclear why those funds weren't requested from the Secret Service when the House and Senate passed the Homeland Security funding bill on April 30 or in the 2026 budget bill passed last summer.

Only about $220 million will be used on the ballroom itself for bullet-resistant glass and the ventilation system.

House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) told Politico that he doesn't doubt Secret Service wants more money, but he wanted to “reserve judgment” on the $1 billion ballroom request. He wants a more “itemized” list.

“I hope it’s narrowly tailored to getting [immigration enforcement] funded and restoring the safety and security of the American people,” Arrington said. He has previously said he wants affordability in the bill.

Things got worse on Tuesday when Defense Department officials revealed that the budget for the Iran War went up from $25 billion to $29 billion. Both sides of the political aisle have requested a line-item list of what all of that is going to.

“I don’t know that the Congress is doing a whole lot — that’s the real issue,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told Politico. “My advice to Congress would be, it might be good for us to do something on cost of living. … It seems like voters are making it very clear that they want some relief.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters the optics of the ballroom against high fuel costs is "not good."

Republicans believe that 2025's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" was more than enough to help with the affordability crisis.

Senate Republicans proposed increasing permits for oil drilling to lower fuel costs. It's an idea that Trump proposed in 2024, promising Americans that within one year, he would cut their utility bills in half. The problem with fuel prices is that oil is a globally traded commodity. The larger problem isn't domestic, it's an international factor involving the Strait of Hormuz's closure. At the same time, permits might help create more drilling, but it doesn't begin immediately. It takes time to drill for oil and natural gas, refine it, and transport it. The U.S. is currently producing more energy than ever before and prices are still increasing.

“I’d just be happy if they do something,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told Politico on Tuesday. He said the problem is “one or two” House Republicans.

“They’ve been holding it up since God was a baby. Their reasons for holding it up run from substantive to ‘my dog ate my homework,'" Kennedy said.

Trump was asked about the high costs Americans are suffering under due to the Iran war. The reporter questioned whether Trump was considering America's financial situation when he's thinking about solutions on the war.

“I don’t think about America’s financial situation,” Trump said. “I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

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