As President Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro consumes Capitol Hill, some congressional Republicans are hoping to steer their party back toward the cost of living at home.
“Whatever happens overseas — wherever that is, our hemisphere, other hemispheres, whatever — we should not lose our focus here on the American people, who are in a lot of need right now,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pointing to rising health care costs and a stagnant minimum wage.
“Working people in this country are really behind the eight ball. … We lose sight of that at our peril.”
Hawley was one of a few Senate Republicans who backed the three-year extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies the House will take up today.
Other GOP lawmakers brushed off the suggestion that foreign issues risked transcending domestic ones: “You can talk about both,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. “That’s what I do.”