President Donald Trump's reported rift with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "is a real problem" because "your hands are going to be driven by what the legislature does or does not do," Rep. Mark Sanford said Tuesday.
"You'd better find a way to work with them because at the end of the day they can stymie your efforts or move forward," the South Carolina Republican told Wolf Blitzer on CNN.
"It is a real problem from the standpoint of him advancing his legislative agenda."
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Trump and the Senate's top Republican were locked in a "Cold War" standoff that is jeopardizing the party's agenda.
The president has publicly and privately slammed the six-term Kentucky senator over failing to get the Senate to pass legislation to repeal several basic elements of Obamacare last month.
McConnell has also said that Trump "excessive expectations" about his agenda, particularly on ending the Affordable Care Act.
Sanford declined to get into "what's allegedly going on between the president and Mitch McConnell," telling Blitzer that "until they are public about what each is saying about the other, I'll wait and see and see how that plays out."
However, he said that he would not support legislation next month to raise the nation's debt ceiling without any restrictions.
"We've got to look at the fundamentals of how we ended up with a $20 trillion national debt," said Sanford, who heads the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
"We've got to look at what are those fundamentals that are driving us to a higher and higher debt level — and we've got to do something to put the brakes on it."