Trump faces influence test at Mar-a-Lago with warring House GOP factions: ‘How do we move forward?’
President-elect Donald Trump’s winter White House is hosting a parade of House Republicans this weekend, all hoping that the new commander in chief’s ear will help the ideologically diverse group of lawmakers get on the same page about a massive shift in conservative policy.
It is also likely to be another test of Trump’s power over Republicans in Congress and whether his influence will be enough to overcome years of fissures in fiscal policy.
“The president is hosting multiple factions, right? It’s not just any. The goal is to have a uniform understanding of what we can accomplish,” one Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital. “Nobody agrees, broadly, on the big goals. But there are very specific issues that will cause people to worry. And we need to address them.”
On Friday, Trump hosts members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, several of whom voted against a government funding bill that the president-elect emphatically supported last month.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, left, and other House Republicans will speak with President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend after he convened multiple groups for a series of meetings. (Getty/AP)
He is also scheduled to meet with senior Republicans and House committee chairs, as well as Republican representatives from blue states.
It comes amid disagreements among Republicans in Congress over the way forward for budget reconciliation process. The mechanism generally allowed one party in control of the government to advance its agenda through one massive bill.
Specifically, the reconciliation lowers the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to just a simple majority, putting it on par with the House of Representatives.
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Harmonization enables only the adoption of budgetary and other fiscal measures. However, both parties have traditionally tried to stretch those parameters in order to advance as many of their agendas as possible. GOP leaders have signaled they want to use reconciliation to solve the problem border securityenergy policy, defense and extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
However, there is considerable disagreement about whether these goals should be split in half. Proponents of the two-track approach believe that passing initial legislation on border and energy policy will allow Republicans to score an early victory there, while buying more time on tax policy.
The meetings will be held in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. (Getty Images)
However, those in favor of just one bill argue that two reconciliation bills have not been passed for decades, given the large political capital required for even one. They warned that the strategy could put Trump’s tax cuts at risk of expiring.
The House GOP conference is also at odds over other details, such as whether to use the reconciliation to raise the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions — a move supported by blue-state Republicans who represent suburban New York and Los Angeles. but what are the representatives of the village against.
“I think it’s going to be a good debate. I think this is a great opportunity for us to talk about not just SALT… This was just about, you know, blue state Republicans coming up with our priorities,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, RN. Y.
A new Big Apple congestion tax, tax cuts for seniors living on Social Security and using the tax code to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the U.S. were all agenda items listed by Malliotakis.
“I have much broader agenda items than SALT, but SALT is especially important to members from New York,” she said.
House Freedom Caucus member Barry Moore, R-Ala., suggested the border would be at the forefront of his caucus’ meeting with Trump.
“The main thing is, how are we going to move forward? Securing our border is going to cost some money. It’s going to cost some money to hire more agents. But at the same time, we have to cut spending wherever we can,” Moore told Fox News Digital.
“We have to be on the same page and I think we will have the opportunity for Trump to hear from us, but also for us to hear from him.”
Rep. Russell Fry, RS.C., a staunch Trump ally who said he would also be at Mar-a-Lago this weekend, dismissed concerns about differences on issues like SALT.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis is one of the blue state Republicans meeting with President-elect Donald Trump. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“I think it’s important to have a dialogue. At the end of the day, we’ve got to do something for the American people. And while people think differently on various issues, it’s important to have that dialogue to figure out how we can put these things together,” he said.
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Trump himself has not publicly stated what he would like to achieve through reconciliation. He said favors a single account approachbut would also be open to two.
Malliotakis and other Republicans on the House Ways & Means Committee, which deals with taxes, support one bill.
However, a member of the House Freedom Caucus doubted that would happen.
“I think we will talk about the bigger picture as far as reconciliation is concerned. I think there will probably be two accounts, not one. But I think it will happen organically, you don’t have to force it,” they said.
