U.S. Rep. Craig Goldman also explains what he wants to survive in the budget bill as the U.S. Senate makes changes.
FORT WORTH, Texas — As senators continue to consider changes to the budget bill, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” members of the U.S. House can only wait to see what they’ll get back.
So, we asked U.S. Representative Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, what he thinks must survive after the changes.
The Republican pointed to the billions of dollars for border security and the increase in defense spending.
But, of course, his number one priority, like most of the Republicans who backed the bill and helped it pass the House by a single vote, is extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts.
“If we don’t pass this bill, the 2017 Trump tax cuts are reversed,” he told us on Inside Texas Politics. “And every single American would feel it and see it and see that their taxes go up instead of go down.”
Many senators, however, have expressed reservations about the budget bill.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, for example, has called the bill “grotesque” and “immoral” because it would add trillions of dollars to the national deficit. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office says it will increase the deficit by nearly $4 trillion by 2034.
Rep. Goldman says nobody likes adding to the deficit, and solving the problem isn’t an overnight fix. The Republican argues that it is a long, several-year process to trim the deficit year by year with the goal of having it eliminated in ten years.
And he says the work done by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will help.
“What has not taken into account, and not one thing was taken into account in the bill we sent over to the Senate, or in the bill when it comes back of reconciliation, is the billions of dollars in cuts that the DOGE committee has found, that every single Cabinet Secretary has found and their agencies,” said the Republican. “So, all those billions of dollars in cuts and savings will be incorporated in the new budget we pass going forward.”
Even Elon Musk has slammed the budget bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination.”
Now, the growing rift between the billionaire Texas resident and the billionaire president has spilled out into the open, with both men going after each other on their respective social media platforms.
We asked Congressman Goldman if he’s surprised the relationship soured so quickly.
“I’m going to stay out of that. That’s between the president and Elon Musk. Nothing’s good for the country when two men like that are battling each other, especially on social media. But that’s between them,” he replied.
President Trump also ordered an investigation into President Biden’s actions while in office. That includes Biden’s use of an autopen, which many Presidents have done.
President Trump wants to know whether the Biden team misled the public about Biden’s health and mental state, and ordered the White House counsel, with help from the AG’s office, to find out.
Rep. Goldman says the House supports the investigation.
“There’s a huge appetite for that in the House,” the Republican told us. “We need to know who was running the federal government when President Biden wasn’t there. Who was signing executive orders? Who was signing pardons? I think we need a full investigation for all of that.”