Meet 5 Republicans in Congress who defined Trump's first 100 days

Yahoo

2 days ago

WASHINGTON – While President Donald Trump spent his first 100 days in office issuing executive orders and paring down the size of the federal government, Republicans in Congress were making moves of their own.
The House reelected Speaker Mike Johnson, temporarily putting aside frustrations carried over from the last Congress. The Senate confirmed Trump's nominees despite skepticism from some in the conference and one tie-breaking vote cast by Vice President JD Vance. And both chambers built a blueprint for what will become the president's policy package to extend tax cuts and beef up spending on border security, defense and domestic energy production.
In each case, GOP lawmakers grappled with narrow margins of control in both chambers. In the House, there was almost no room for error, as Republican vacancies early in the year made an already narrow majority as small as a one-vote margin in some cases. (Republicans have a three-vote margin in the House as two Democratic seats are vacant.)
Republican House and Senate leaders, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and their leadership teams shepherded their conferences through these challenging votes. But there were several other Republicans who had outsized influence, shaping policy or nearly blocking it.
Here are five Republican members of Congress who made a significant mark on Capitol Hill during Trump's first 100 days in office:
Few members of Congress have had more impact on the shape of Trump's agenda than Jason Smith, the Missouri Republican who leads the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and who advocated for the one "big, beautiful bill" approach to Trump's agenda that Congress is pursuing.
Trump has big ambitions for the tax policy in his marquee bill: Extending the tax cuts implemented during his first term while eliminating tax on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits.
More: What to know as Congress starts working on Donald Trump's 'big beautiful bill'
The president has also supported an effort by a handful of key Republicans from high-tax states like New York and California to end, or at least raise, the cap on state and local tax deductions known as SALT.
Implementing those changes will be complicated – and expensive. All told, nonpartisan analysts estimate the tax cuts will cost between $5 trillion and $11 trillion over the next decade.
Smith's committee will be the hatching ground for this policy fight. Tax bills must start in the House, per the U.S. Constitution, giving the tax committee chairman plenty of leverage over the debate.
As Congressional Republicans began hashing out the big picture of what Trump's agenda would look like, Smith was an advocate for rolling all of Trump's priorities – taxes, along with border and energy policies – into one 'big, beautiful bill,' as the president would come to call it.
Smith is an attorney who started his political career as the youngest member of the Missouri House of Representatives at 25. He argued that to start Trump's second term that the single-bill strategy would stand the best chance at ensuring all of the president's priorities get passed, given the extremely tight Republican margins in the House.
Smith and House leadership were at odds with Republicans in the Senate, which wanted Congress to pass two separate bills, one for taxes and one for other policy ‒ to put wins on the board quickly.
"That's why we need one big, beautiful bill," Smith told The Washington Reporter earlier this year. "It is our opportunity to deliver, to ensure we get as much (as) possible of President Trump's agenda enacted into law as soon as possible."
Trump wavered for weeks between the two strategies. Smith and other House leaders lobbied Trump on their plan and eventually won. Trump backed the one-bill strategy in February, setting the framework for what's playing out now.
The House Freedom Caucus formed 10 years ago ‒ an outgrowth of the 2000s-era Tea Party that had sought to push other fellow Republicans toward limited government and fiscal responsibility. Over the years, it developed a reputation as a hardline faction willing to blow up the best-laid plans of GOP leadership.
Now the invite-only group has realigned itself around Trump – and has surprisingly provided the needed support to clinch tough votes over and over since Republicans took control of both chambers of Congress at the start of 2025.
More: House Speaker Mike Johnson's victory came with a warning from hardline Republicans
The Freedom Caucus threatened to stop Johnson, the House speaker, from winning reelection to leadership in January, to block a government funding extension in March, and to stop a budget blueprint that would kick off work on Trump's legislative agenda in April over spending concerns.
In each case, at Trump's behest, they backed down and voted with the rest of the GOP. In April, the caucus successfully delayed a House vote on the budget blueprint until Congressional leadership committed to finding at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.
Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, the former anesthesiologist who now chairs the Freedom Caucus, played a crucial role in leading negotiations.
'In the end, the Freedom Caucus has always been willing to say no when it had to,' Harris said in an interview with USA TODAY. In these cases, the group was 'able to pull the conference in a direction that it needed to go in order to get a final product that the entire Freedom Caucus could agree with and, therefore, deliver the votes necessary in a tight majority.'
Harris pushed back on the idea that the caucus has moved away from its roots to support the president's preferences, and said each of these tough votes eventually was 'consistent with the principles that we have espoused for 10 years.'
'I think the Trump administration realizes that we're the group that most strongly supports President Trump and his agenda,' Harris said.
While the Freedom Caucus' hardliners are in Trump's good graces, there is one fiscal conservative in the House who is not: Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who has repeatedly bucked GOP leadership over concerns about government spending.
Massie is no stranger to being a thorn in his party's side, defending small-government principles. But amid this year's tight margins, he has single-handedly complicated each tight vote leadership sought to squeeze through.
The former technology entrepreneur was the only Republican who did not vote for Johnson as speaker, arguing he wasn't up to the task and would cost the GOP's majority during the midterm elections. Johnson was only able to clinch the gavel after he flipped two other Republican holdouts.
More: Who is Thomas Massie? Trump lashes out at House Republicans' squeaky wheel
Republicans only had one vote to spare in February when they first attempted to pass a budget blueprint that would unlock the process to craft Trump's legislative agenda. When Massie said he was a no, Johnson was forced to engage in a dramatic whip operation on the floor to flip the remaining holdouts.
Massie again cited concerns about the national debt when he forced Johnson to do the same thing in March to avoid a government shutdown. In April, Republican leaders didn't even bother including Massie in their overtures on another critical Trump agenda vote; he sided against the bill.
Trump has noticed all along the way. In March, the president slammed Massie "of beautiful Kentucky" in a post on Truth Social, saying he "is an automatic 'NO' vote on just about everything."
"HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him," Trump wrote.
Massie says he's not worried. He defeated a primary challenger in 2020 after Trump criticized his objection to a COVID-19 response bill, though his opponents argue they stand a better chance of unseating him this time.
"Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election. Guess what? Doesn't work on me," Massie wrote on X. "Three times I've had a challenger who tried to be more MAGA than me. None busted 25% because my constituents prefer transparency and principles over blind allegiance."
Sen. Markwayne Mullin has a reputation for getting into the mix.
The 47-year-old Oklahoman is a former mixed martial arts fighter who tried to help Capitol police barricade the House doors during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; sought to rescue U.S. citizens from Afghanistan in an unauthorized helicopter mission as American troops pulled out of the country in 2021; and attempted to fight Teamsters President Sean O'Brien during a committee hearing in 2023.
Since Republicans took the House, Senate and White House, Mullin has taken on a new role as an informal liaison between the bodies as they seek to pass GOP priorities in the as quick as they can.
More: Big spending, big cuts: House Republicans scramble to strike a deal on Trump's agenda
Mullin served five terms in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2022. He's kept his finger on the pulse of the House GOP conference throughout the beginning of this year, attending their meetings and checking in with House Speaker Johnson.
"It's only roughly 100 yards to the other side of the Capitol, but a lot of times we're not talking like we should," Mullin said in a brief interview with USA TODAY. "A lot of times, when we're talking about things, it's a misunderstanding. And when you can at least get that out of the way and just deal with the issue itself, then you're able to get to a positive spot."
Mullin is also one of Trump's closest allies in the Senate. He enjoys a strong relationship with the president, fostered through his personal connection and his public profile of defending Trump's policies while attacking detractors.
As Senate Republicans sought to keep their conference together on some of Trump's more controversial Cabinet nominees, Mullin played a role in helping "open doors" for meetings between Hegseth and other senators. He was an advocate for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearings and continued to support Hegseth as he came under fire for his use of Signal to communicate intelligence information.
Sen. Mitch McConnell and Trump's tense relationship is no secret, dating back to the president's first term and even earlier.
McConnell and Trump worked together to pass the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and transform the makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court. They also clashed over efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a coronavirus aid package, and the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Things have changed for the longtime Senate Republican leader, who rejoined the rank-and-file at the beginning of the year and announced he plans to retire when his term ends in 2027.
More: McConnell called Trump 'despicable' and a 'narcissist,' cried after Capitol riot, new book says
Now out of GOP leadership, McConnell has emerged as the most obstinate member of a loose cohort of Republican senators willing to criticize the president's policies and nominees.
McConnell is the only GOP senator to oppose four Cabinet nominees: Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
In his statements opposing the nominees, he gave unsparing assessments, saying they were incapable of doing the job. He called Gabbard's appointment an 'unnecessary risk' for national intelligence and said Kennedy has 'a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories.'
McConnell's surprise opposition to Hegseth forced Vance to come to the Capitol to cast a tie-breaking vote – the closest any of Trump's nominees have come to failing.
He has also been one of the most vocal Republicans on Capitol Hill in criticizing select administration actions, including tariffs and negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
In a Courier-Journal op-ed, McConnell argued Trump's tariffs would "heap on the pain" and cost average Kentuckians.
"I think Sen. McConnell feels a degree of freedom that he never had before," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who served as McConnell's No. 2 as GOP whip for six years, told USA TODAY earlier this year. "I would expect there will be more disagreements down the road, but he's representing his state and voting his conscience – something I would think we all would do."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 5 Republicans in Congress who defined Trump's first 100 days