This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by <a href="https://www.factset.com/" data-omtr-intcmp="topnav_more_factset">Factset</a>. Powered and implemented by <a href="https://www.factset.com/solutions/business-needs/digital-solutions" data-omtr-intcmp="topnav_more_factset_digital_solutions">FactSet Digital Solutions</a>. <a href="https://www.factset.com/privacy" data-omtr-intcmp="topnav_more_factset_privacy">Legal Statement</a>. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by <a href="https://lipperalpha.refinitiv.com/" data-omtr-intcmp="topnav_more_refinitive_info">Refinitiv Lipper</a>. <br>Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., joins 'The Faulkner Focus' to discuss the looming showdown between the incoming Trump administration and sanctuary cities.<br>While the high-stakes fight to lead the House of Representatives is over, Speaker Mike Johnson’s politically perilous year is just beginning.<br>Winning the speaker’s gavel was no easy feat considering Johnson, R-La., had no Democratic support and could only lose one fellow Republican, thanks to the House GOP’s razor-thin majority.<br>All House Republicans except for Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted for Johnson on Friday afternoon. Two GOP lawmakers who had initially voted for someone other than Johnson, Reps. Keith Self, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., were eventually persuaded to switch their votes after speaking with Johnson and President-elect Trump.<br>Johnson will have to navigate a similarly slim margin over the next few months as he helps carry out what President-elect Donald Trump promised would be a very active first 100 days of his new administration.<br><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/were-going-gut-fish-republicans-give-details-from-closed-door-meetings-doges-musk-ramaswamy"><strong><u>REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE'S MUSK, RAMASWAMY</u></strong></a><br><span>House Speaker Mike Johnson is pictured in front of the U.S. Capitol.</span> <span>(Getty Images/AP)</span><br>"There’s a lot of expectations and potential pitfalls," Marc Short, who served as director of legislative affairs during the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital in an interview late last month. <br>Just the first half of 2025 alone is expected to see at least three separate fiscal fights.<br>Johnson, meanwhile, is set to lose two House Republicans – Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York and Mike Waltz of Florida. Both members are joining the Trump administration at the end of this month.<br>It will reduce his House GOP majority to just 217 seats, compared to 215 for Democrats, which means Republicans will need to vote in lock-step to pass any bills on a party-line vote. <br>Special elections to replace Waltz and retired Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., are set for April. An election to replace Stefanik has not yet been set.<br>Meanwhile, Republicans are gunning to pass two massive conservative policy and spending overhauls via a process <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/what-reconciliation-tool-republicans-want-use-push-outer-limits-federal-policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called "reconciliation,"</a> which lowers the threshold for passage in the Senate from 60 votes to a simple majority for certain budgetary issues.<br>Both Republicans and Democrats have tried to use reconciliation to pass significant fiscal policy changes that the other side normally opposes, meaning it takes extraordinary levels of intra-party cooperation in both the House and Senate.<br><span>Pictured are President-elect Donald Trump's picks for his next National Security Advisor, Michael Waltz (left), and next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Elise Stefanik (right).</span> <!----><br>"There’s huge expectations on budget reconciliation, and that’s really hard, even when you’ve got wide margins. To think you’re going to do it twice in a year with those margins, I think is an enormously high expectation that seems to be unreasonable," Short told Fox News Digital.<br>"And add onto that another funding bill in three months, plus a debt ceiling fight."<br>Along with reconciliation bills – which are unlikely to get much, if any, Democratic support – Republicans will also have to grapple with the government funding deadline they <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-passes-bill-stop-shutdown-sending-president-bidens-desk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">just punted to March 14.</a><br><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/daniel-penny-tapped-congressional-gold-medal-house-gop-lawmaker"><strong>DANIEL PENNY TO BE TAPPED FOR CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL BY HOUSE GOP LAWMAKER</strong></a><br>House and Senate lawmakers passed a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2024’s government funding levels in December to give negotiators more time to hash out the rest of FY 2025.<br>Congress will risk plunging the government into a partial shutdown if the House and Senate does not pass another funding extension or set new priorities for the remainder of FY 2025 by then.<br>The next government funding deadline will come at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.<br>That’s not all Johnson will have to focus on during those months, however.<br><span>President-elect Donald Trump looks on during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on Dec. 22, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. </span> <span>(Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)</span><br>A <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/biden-mccarthy-white-house-debt-limit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bipartisan agreement</a> struck in 2023 suspended the U.S. debt limit through January 2025 – after which the Treasury Department will be forced to take "extraordinary measures" to avoid a national credit default.<br><a href="https://foxnews.onelink.me/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products"><strong><u>CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP</u></strong></a><br>The debt limit refers to how much debt the U.S. government can accrue while making expenditures it has already committed to. As of Christmas Eve, the <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/us-national-debt-tracker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">national debt</a> — which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors — fell to $36,161,621,015,445.57, according to the latest numbers published by the Treasury Department. <br>Raising the debt limit is also traditionally a fraught political battle, with both Republicans and Democrats seeking any possible leverage to attach their own policy goals to the negotiations.<br>A recent model produced by the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) projects the Treasury’s "extraordinary measures" will carry the U.S. through mid-June or earlier, giving Congress potentially six months to act.<br>Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.<br>Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com<br>Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.<br>By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/privacy-policy">Privacy Policy</a> and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/terms-of-use">Terms of Use</a>, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.<br>Subscribed<br> You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! <br> This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by <a href="https://www.factset.com/" data-omtr-intcmp="footer_factset">Factset</a>. Powered and implemented by <a href="https://www.factset.com/solutions/business-needs/digital-solutions" data-omtr-intcmp="footer_factset_digital_solutions">FactSet Digital Solutions</a>. <a href="https://www.factset.com/privacy" data-omtr-intcmp="footer_factset_privacy">Legal Statement</a>. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by <a href="https://lipperalpha.refinitiv.com/" data-omtr-intcmp="footer_refinitive_info">Refinitiv Lipper</a>. <br><br><a href="https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMioAFBVV95cUxPWlEzRjlQc09qWGdoNUEzNHdaTEg5LXZYZlotOUN1a1FNOHl2S210eWF4MTRyM0xYZnl5LUpJNXdPN0FSNUxWVEM3UVY0QXNqbVNUTUxYRkhTUGV3RFVsWmFpWkYwdnExNjJwaUl5VktCamo3V0o5SnZTT2Q0VDZaVGNTS3BSa0E0c280b19xOEhFc3RybEhLcXlyR0pzZ0Yy0gGmAUFVX3lxTE5WM2thWFJ0SWwwdEJoaHBIQWJ4Wk1zRkRkN0V3UDJGanlFaVVOTm5EUDhuTXJhTDN4UVcxemN5cExRSlctcXFiOWRsZnVMTmJHYS1HVmEyZzNwTmNaUXAyTlRSeWVhY3BQZGF2YUlJNTZvbkFaalBRM0VyOVQzUFRqT1FmWmlTTkVBVEZoUDZjb3lTUVRWSXdBQ0F1clhrSkQ0dXdJa2c?oc=5">source</a>
