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MIAMI — Donald Trump on Monday night gave House Republicans a list of priorities he expects them to add to the party’s planned marquee legislation advancing his agenda.
But the president’s lengthy remarks might be more notable for what they didn’t give to the scores of lawmakers gathered at his Doral golf resort: A clear direction for how to pass that legislation.
Trump used his speech at the GOP retreat largely to recount his first-week moves and his upcoming goals for the country. Only briefly did he mention the consequential and arcane debate on the Hill over whether to pass border, tax and energy policy changes in one bill or two. And Trump made clear in the process that Congress will have to decide that for itself.
“We don’t want to get hung up on the budget process,” Trump told lawmakers on Monday. “Whether it’s one bill, two bills, I don’t care.”
Trump did get specific when it came to what Republicans should add to their signature bill or bills, which party lawmakers plan to pass without Democratic votes using the filibuster protections of budget reconciliation.
He called for “full funding” to boost border security personnel and retention bonuses, funding for a new task force targeting foreign gangs — and when it comes to taxes, he said he wants to make his 2017 tax cuts permanent, as well as to fulfill his campaign promises to end taxes on tips and overtime benefits.
Lawmakers professed little concern about Trump’s declining to wade into the one-bill-or-two clash. House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain of Michigan said she didn’t expect that from Trump.
“President Trump’s very clear on what he wants,” McClain told Semafor after his speech. “I think he’s giving the House and the Senate latitude to get that done. He’s not micro-managing.”
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Monday night continued Trump’s trend of staying relatively noncommittal about whether Republicans should pass his agenda through one party-line bill or two. He has aired more support for the former option while also leaving the door open for two smaller bills, which has at times created differing opinions within the GOP about whose side the president is on.
For example, after Trump met with senior congressional Republicans at the White House, top House and Senate leaders left with different opinions of where Trump stood.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters there’d been an agreement on “one big, beautiful bill,” as Trump likes to describe it. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune didn’t say that the two sides had agreed on one approach, instead saying “there are a lot of great theories” being tossed around.
Shelby and Kadia’s View
Trump’s hands-off approach when it comes to the GOP reconciliation plan is unusual for a president who has formed deep relationships with lawmakers over the last ten years, and one who’s well-known for using the bully pulpit.
Without Trump stating a clear preference, lawmakers are palpably struggling to get together and agree on one path forward.
Tonight’s speech, though, should make it clear to Republicans that it’s on them to figure it out. How that’s handled — and whether Trump eventually ends up serving as mediator — remains to be seen.
Notable
- While Trump has been somewhat hands-off on reconciliation, he’s been picking fights with his party on a number of other week-one executive orders, Semafor’s Burgess Everett recently reported.