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RSBN Interviews Jim Pfaff, President of The Conservative Caucus: The budget bill

Published: March 14, 2025
Network: RSBN (Right Side Broadcasting)
Analysis: Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff

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President Trump’s reconciliation bill spending package narrowly passed the House with just a 217-215 vote, but according to Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff, the real battle over federal spending has only just begun. In a revealing interview with Right Side Broadcasting Network, Pfaff exposed a troubling reality: 29 Republican senators voted against an amendment that would have immediately cut $1.5 trillion from the budget—a systemic problem that threatens to undermine Trump’s entire legislative agenda heading into the 2026 midterms.

Topics Covered

• The Reconciliation Bill Passage and What It Means
• The Senate GOP’s $1.5 Trillion Problem
• The Real Federal Spending Crisis: COVID-Level Budgets in 2025
• Constitutional Solutions: Term Limits and Article I, Section 8
• What Republicans Must Do Before 2026
• Key Takeaways

The Reconciliation Bill Passage and What It Means

The House reconciliation bill spending vote appeared to be dead on arrival before Republican leadership successfully whipped the votes to secure passage with only one GOP defection. Pfaff, drawing on his years as a Capitol Hill chief of staff, explained that this represents a short-term victory for President Trump’s legislative agenda—but with significant caveats.

“If it gets passed it will help it in the short run,” Pfaff noted, while acknowledging that “there are a few things in the bill that people had disagreements on that even voted for it in terms of how quickly does it reduce the debt.” The president is banking heavily on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative and OMB Director Russ Vought to make up the difference through rescissions and impoundment of funds.

Pfaff has long advocated for a one-bill strategy rather than the two-bill approach favored by some Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz. “The reality is it’s very hard to get two reconciliation bills through Congress in one legislative session,” he explained. “The history on that is very slim.” More critically, Republicans need to lock everything down before the 2026 campaign season begins, avoiding the political rancor of having a second bill hanging over their heads during election season.

The Senate GOP’s $1.5 Trillion Problem

While the reconciliation bill spending package moves forward, Pfaff identified a far more troubling systemic issue within the Republican caucus itself. Senator Rand Paul offered an amendment to the Senate version that would have immediately cut $1.5 trillion from the federal budget—and 29 Republican senators voted against it.

“The systemic problem there isn’t that the bill didn’t pass—it’s bad—it’s that you have 29 members of the Senate after the results of the last election and how Donald Trump handled his transition all the way through this first month of his presidency that they wouldn’t say let’s just go for it. That’s a systemic problem. Our weak link, the weak link for Donald Trump, is Republicans in Congress.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

This vote reveals a fundamental disconnect between the mandate Trump received from voters and the willingness of congressional Republicans to implement the aggressive spending cuts necessary to address the nation’s fiscal crisis. Despite Trump’s overwhelming electoral performance and successful transition, nearly a third of Senate Republicans remain unwilling to make the hard choices on federal spending.

The Real Federal Spending Crisis: COVID-Level Budgets in 2025

Pfaff provided stark context for just how out of control federal spending has become, using 2019 as a baseline for comparison. Pre-COVID spending totaled approximately $4.5 trillion. Adjusted for inflation, that would equal roughly $5.39 trillion today—yet the federal government continues to spend at COVID-emergency levels years after the pandemic ended.

“If we just set up our spending exactly like we did in 2019, that’s about $5.39 trillion, we would cut the deficit out entirely,” Pfaff emphasized. “That actually is a reality, it’s something that could be done or something very close to it, and Republicans in Congress aren’t willing to do so. There’s no reason for us to be spending at COVID levels when COVID is so far gone in reality right now.”

The reconciliation bill spending currently under consideration does not address these systemic problems. While it includes border funding and some tax cuts, it fails to tackle the fundamental drivers of deficit spending that threaten America’s long-term fiscal health.

Constitutional Solutions: Term Limits and Article I, Section 8

When asked about solutions to Congress’s inability to control spending, Pfaff outlined both immediate reforms and longer-term constitutional remedies. At the top of his list: congressional term limits, an issue The Conservative Caucus has championed since Trump’s first term.

“At the conservative caucus, we’re pushing for term limits,” Pfaff stated. “We’ve had a lot of success in beginning to work with that when Donald Trump was first talking about it in his first term and we’re kind of ramping that up.”

While Pfaff supports the concept of a balanced budget amendment, he expressed skepticism about its practical implementation. “I would love to see that at a federal level but it’s very hard to get that passed and quite frankly we’ve got a Congress that for decades has been unwilling to follow the Constitution anyway,” he noted. “What’s to say that they’re even going to follow that edict if we put it in there?”

“My biggest beef with the Article V movement is how are you going to redraw the Constitution when you can’t even get the guys to follow the one we’ve got on the books which would solve all the problems.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Pfaff emphasized the need to reassert two critical constitutional principles. First, Article II, Section 1 establishes that executive power is vested solely in the president—not bureaucrats or appointees. Trump has demonstrated this principle clearly in his second term. Second, Article I, Section 8 severely limits and restricts what Congress can spend money on, a debate that has been absent from Washington for far too long.

The Broken Appropriations Process

A key driver of spending dysfunction is the collapse of the regular appropriations process. Since 1998—the last time Congress passed all 12 appropriations bills through regular order—the federal government has operated through continuing resolutions and omnibus bills.

“Those processes, CRs and omnibuses, are run by four people: the speaker of the house and the minority leader of the House, the majority leader in the Senate and the minority leader in the Senate,” Pfaff explained. “Those are the four people who write the bills with the help of lobbyists—like they literally have lobbyists in the office writing these bills and giving their input.”

This process prevents rank-and-file members from offering amendments or having meaningful input on spending decisions. Bills are written behind closed doors, rushed through the Rules Committee, and thrown on the floor for up-or-down votes with no opportunity for debate or modification. It’s a primary reason Congress maintains a dismal 39% approval rating.

What Republicans Must Do Before 2026

Looking ahead to the midterm elections, Pfaff outlined several critical actions Republicans must take to maintain and potentially expand their congressional majorities. The reconciliation bill spending package alone won’t be sufficient to make the case to voters.

“Right now what’s happening with this bill that’s going to be passed on March 14th or by March 14th, it doesn’t quite get the messaging job done,” Pfaff warned. “The argument in the off-year elections that has to be made is why should you have us in charge of Congress, and Republicans in Congress have no message in that regard.”

The Legislative To-Do List

Pfaff identified several key areas where Republicans need legislative victories:

Actual Spending Cuts: Republicans need to eliminate the filibuster and push through real spending reductions. The Rand Paul amendment cutting $1.5 trillion should serve as a template for the kind of aggressive action required.

Free Speech Protection: Pass legislation explicitly prohibiting the federal government from restricting free speech in any manner, eliminating censorship opportunities that emerged during the Biden administration.

Defund NGOs: Prohibit non-government organizations from receiving federal money, cutting off the pipeline of taxpayer funds flowing to left-wing activist groups. “These non-government organizations that funnel money to leftwing organizations—if they could take some steps to show that, the chances of that happening are very low again, that would cause the American people to say of Republicans in 2026, yeah we’ll give you another two years.”

Immigration Law Reform: Work directly with Border Czar Tom Homan to identify what additional legislative tools he needs to complete his mission. “Get his ideas, let him say yeah that would give me the tools that I need, explain why, and the American people I think might give them a chance in 2026.”

The Corruption of Career Politicians

When pressed on why spending remains so out of control, Pfaff pointed to the corrupting influence of career politicians dependent on their congressional salaries. “To be candid, these people need their $174,000 a year income,” he explained. “Unless you’re independently wealthy, you have nothing to fall back on because it does consume all your time.”

This creates perverse incentives. Members must either make votes that position them for lucrative K Street lobbying jobs after Congress, or they risk losing everything if they’re defeated or redistricted. The average congressional tenure of about seven years—while better than lifetime careers—still creates a window where members become captured by special interests and the lobbying ecosystem.

The Path Forward: Eight More Years

Pfaff expressed optimism that if Trump’s executive branch approach continues for eight more years—whether through a second Trump term or a successor like JD Vance or Ron DeSantis—the paradigm can shift permanently.

“If we can have eight more years of a Donald Trump style executive branch, then we can change this paradigm,” Pfaff argued. “And then we’re just going to have to do the work to get new people in Congress who’ll have these new ideas and hold on to them.”

The strategy requires maintaining aggressive executive action on spending reduction through DOGE and OMB rescissions, while simultaneously working to elect a new generation of congressmen committed to constitutional spending limits and fiscal responsibility.

Key Takeaways

1. Reconciliation Bill Spending Passes with Narrow Margin – The House approved Trump’s reconciliation bill 217-215, but the Senate version lacks tax cuts, creating a need for reconciliation between chambers before final passage.
2. 29 GOP Senators Rejected $1.5 Trillion in Cuts – Senator Rand Paul’s amendment to immediately cut $1.5 trillion failed with 29 Republican “no” votes, revealing that congressional Republicans, not Democrats, are Trump’s primary obstacle on fiscal policy.
3. Federal Spending Remains at COVID Emergency Levels – The government continues spending at pandemic levels despite COVID being long over. Returning to inflation-adjusted 2019 spending levels ($5.39 trillion vs. current levels) would eliminate the deficit entirely.
4. The Appropriations Process is Broken – Since 1998, Congress has abandoned regular order for omnibus bills written by four leaders and lobbyists behind closed doors, preventing meaningful debate or amendments on spending.
5. Term Limits Remain Essential – Career politicians dependent on congressional salaries make votes to secure post-Congress lobbying jobs rather than serving constituents, making term limits critical to breaking the spending cycle.
6. Republicans Need More Wins Before 2026 – The reconciliation bill alone won’t secure GOP majorities in the midterms. Republicans must pass free speech protections, defund left-wing NGOs, cut actual spending, and work with Tom Homan on immigration law reforms.
7. Constitutional Principles Must Be Reasserted – Article II, Section 1 (executive power vested solely in the president) and Article I, Section 8 (strict limits on congressional spending authority) need to be the framework for the spending debate going forward.
8. Eight-Year Strategy for Permanent Change – Maintaining Trump-style executive branch fiscal discipline through 2032—whether through Trump, Vance, or DeSantis—combined with electing new fiscally conservative congressmen, offers the best path to permanent spending reform.

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About The Conservative Caucus:
The Conservative Caucus is a grassroots public policy action organization, formed in 1974. Headed by President Jim Pfaff, the Caucus is committed to advancing free enterprise, limited government, and traditional values.

Originally broadcast March 14, 2025 on RSBN (Right Side Broadcasting).