Trump goes to Capitol Hill aiming to unite Republicans behind his agenda

WASHINGTON (REUTERS): President-elect Donald Trump arrived at the US Senate on Wednesday aiming to unite Republicans behind a strategy for implementing tax cuts, border controls and increased fossil fuel production, 12 days before he returns to the White House.

Trump entered the US Capitol for the first time since his supporters stormed the building on January 6, 2021, over his claims of a stolen 2020 election.

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He paid his respects on a visit to the casket of former President Jimmy Carter in the Capitol Rotunda before Trump was due to meet Republicans who hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. Trump will attend Carter’s funeral on Thursday in Washington.

With slim majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives, Republicans have yet to agree on whether to pursue one bill containing his priorities or two and hold divergent views about what the legislation should contain.

Some Senate Republicans had argued they should break Trump’s agenda into two bills, allowing them to notch a quick success on border and energy policy before turning to the thornier matter of taxes. Some House Republicans warn that, given their narrow margin of control, the two-step approach runs the risk of failing to pass the second bill extending Trump’s tax cuts.

“We’re looking at the one bill versus two bills. Whatever it is, doesn’t matter, we’re going to get the result,” he told reporters as he made his way through the Capitol.

They will also have to grapple with how to offset the effects of fresh tax cuts on the nation’s growing $36 trillion debt.

In a possible sign of things to come, Trump had to intervene in the House last week when Speaker Mike Johnson initially fell short of the votes needed for reelection to his top post. After nearly two hours of negotiations, a call from Trump helped sway two hardline Republican opponents to change their positions and support Johnson.

“None of this happens without White House leadership. The margins are simply too thin,” Republican Senator Thom Tillis told reporters. “President Trump gets MVP status for solving the speaker vote. And we’re going to need him to play MVP on getting these bills done. Just common sense.”

On Friday, the president-elect is due to begin three days of meetings with House Republicans at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

“He needs to hear what our impressions are in terms of how we’re going to get where we all want to go,” said Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who was hosting Wednesday’s meeting.

Republicans intend to pass Trump’s agenda by using a complex legislative maneuver that would allow them to bypass Senate Democratic opposition. Republicans’ 53-47 majority in the Senate is too narrow to otherwise overcome the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster for most legislation.

In the House, a 219-seat majority is expected to dwindle to 217-215 after Trump takes office in less than two weeks. Two House Republicans are poised to leave Congress and join his administration.

Trump himself has complicated matters up to now by offering no clear guidance, saying he prefers one bill but could accept two. On Tuesday, Trump said he wants Congress to avoid default on the $36 trillion US debt by extending the federal borrowing limit.

“He has to tell us what he wants and what he needs,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington. “That’s a call he has to make.”

Trump was expected to meet on Friday with members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus. Lawmakers and aides said he would also meet with committee chairs on Saturday and with other House Republicans on Sunday.

US Representative Ralph Norman, a Freedom Caucus member and one of the two Republican holdouts who Trump persuaded to support Johnson last week, said he intends to ask Trump to use his leverage to back aggressive spending reductions that would help compensate for a higher federal debt ceiling.

US Representative Dan Crenshaw, who will meet with Trump on Sunday, sees the discussions as a starting gun for the president-elect’s second-term engagement with Capitol Hill.

“Trump has a history of being the most involved president with members of Congress,” Crenshaw said. “And so this is just the beginning of it.”

Some Republicans cautioned that Trump could overplay his hand if he takes too strong a role in legislative negotiations.

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“We’re independent. I mean, we’re a co-equal branch of government. Sometimes we forget that the president doesn’t rule over the Senate and the House. I think that was the mistake that he learned the first time,” said US Representative Kevin Hern, who chairs the Republican Policy Committee in the House.

Hern said he will be among lawmakers who meet with Trump on Sunday.