WASHINGTON — Texas Republicans are emerging as key players in the push to pass what could be one of the most significant pieces of conservative fiscal policy in years: President Donald Trump’s agenda of tax and spending cuts.

What You Need To Know

  • With Republicans now controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, Texas Republicans including Budget Committee Chair Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, have an outsized role to play in shaping legislation that would cut spending, extend Trump’s tax cuts from his first term and enact additional tax reductions

  • House GOP leaders have been scrambling to get colleagues to rally behind one single sweeping package, but one point of division in the GOP is the level of cuts over a 10-year spending period

  • Hardliners from Texas like Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, say a good target is $2.5 trillion in spending cuts, but some worry it may be difficult to include all of Trump’s tax demands and popular social programs like Medicaid may be on the chopping block 

  • One thing Texas Republicans in Congress seem to all get behind is border security

As chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee, Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, often talked about slashing government spending.

“We have to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. We have to get our spending in line with our revenue,” Arrington told Spectrum News in 2023.

“We limit federal spending by reining in and right-sizing the federal bureaucracy,” he said on the House floor that year.

With Republicans now controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, Arrington has an outsized role to play in shaping legislation that would cut spending, extend Trump’s tax cuts from his first term and enact additional tax reductions.

Spectrum News caught up with Arrington last week following a meeting with the president at the White House, which was reportedly described as tense at times.

“We all care about getting this right, because we know this is going to unlock the full potential of our economy, but we also have to take care to make sure we restore the fiscal health in the spending curve and not leave our kids with, you know, a bankrupt country,” Arrington told journalists on Capitol Hill.

House GOP leaders have been scrambling to get colleagues to rally behind one single sweeping package. One point of division in the GOP is the level of cuts over a 10-year spending period.

Hardliners from Texas like Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, are seeking cuts that are so significant that other Republicans worry it may be difficult to include all of Trump’s tax demands.

“We ought to do more than two-and-a-half trillion cuts, but I think that's a good target,” Roy said.

Some are also concerned that such steep cuts would mean putting expensive but popular programs, such as Medicaid, on the chopping block.

But Roy, who has praised the government cost-cutting effort led by billionaire Elon Musk under Trump, says there needs to be more scrutiny on funding for social services.

“We need to translate that in this building to spending restraint and spending cuts. If we do that, while we grow the economy, we can reverse this ridiculous trend we've been on,” Roy said. “It's got to be sort of like post-World War II right? That's when we had the same kind of relative debt to GDP, but we had to grow out of it. We better do that now, but we got to constrain spending and grow out of it.”

One thing Texas Republicans in Congress seem to all get behind is border security.  — in particular, Gov. Greg Abbott’s $11 billion reimbursement request. Roy said that would be part of nearly $200 billion in border security funding that both chambers are looking at.