Disgruntled Senate GOP causes headaches for Trump |
Disgruntled Senate GOP causes headaches for Trump
▪ Trump faces roadblocks in Senate
▪ Mixed war powers votes
▪ Saudi Arabia nuclear deal confusion
▪ Google receives major EU fine
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President Trump’s damaged relationship with Senate Republicans is obstructing his agenda in what could be the final months of full GOP control during his second term.
The House left town on Thursday for the chamber’s August recess after sending several measures to the Senate, which will remain in session for the next two weeks. Congress has about two dozen legislative days remaining before midterms in November.
The tension between Trump and members of his own party is growing by the day.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during her press briefing on Thursday, said Trump is “running out of patience” with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and the GOP’s inability to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act.
During his trip to Georgia on Wednesday, Trump praised Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-La.) efforts in the House, while voicing his frustrations with the upper chamber.
“Mike Johnson and Congress have done a great job, but we’re having a hard time in the Senate,” he said. “The Senate, what they’re doing, it’s just not right.”
Leavitt’s remarks came after Thune said he didn’t have 50 votes in the GOP caucus to pass the House budget resolution that will pave the way for a $95 billion reconciliation bill to fund the war in Iran, provide farm aid and make election reforms.
“Maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes. Right? It’s 50 around here,” Thune shot back in comments to reporters.
“Instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats,” the senator added. “And if there are Republicans they think are gettable, get on the phone.”
Trump has been trying for weeks to ramp up pressure on Senate Republicans to be more aggressive in passing his agenda — particularly the SAVE America Act, which would add new ID requirements for registering to vote and casting a ballot.
Some of the key votes Trump may be missing come from Senate Republicans he’s been increasingly at odds with, including three whom he helped push out of their jobs.
The House-passed budget framework proposes the idea of creating a grant program to incentivize states to adopt the voting restrictions of the SAVE America Act, a watered down version of the mandatory national requirement in the original bill.
That’s still running into opposition from retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has often clashed with Trump.
“If I see a reconciliation bill come from the House with another failed attempt to confuse this election, I will use every device I have available to slow down the wheels of government until people cop a clue and do the math,” Tillis said last week.
Thune has told reporters he plans to “hold” the House-passed budget resolution for now as a possible way to pass a short-term funding measure in September before the end of the fiscal year.
The House approved a stopgap measure to fund the government through Dec. 4, but it faces long odds in the Senate in light of expected Democratic opposition.
Trump is also facing difficulty getting acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed to the permanent role amid GOP backlash.
Tillis and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who lost to a Trump-backed primary challenger, are key swing votes on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Blanche’s nomination.
Cornyn has pressed Blanche over the Department of Justice’s proposed “anti-weaponization” fund. Even though Blanche has signaled the fund was scrapped, Cornyn has remained noncommittal on his nomination.
Even if Blanche’s nomination gets past the Judiciary Committee, it will still face another hurdle before the full Senate with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also expressing reservations about him.
Other wildcards in the Senate in the coming weeks are Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is fighting for her political life in a blue state, and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), if he returns from a prolonged hospitalization. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the third member of what has been dubbed the “YOLO caucus,” along with Tillis and Cornyn, has also been increasingly defiant since losing his primary to a Trump-backed challenger.
Whether Trump can push through his agenda before the lame duck session begins after the midterms is up in the air. But with the House out of town, his fraught relations with the Senate will now firmly take the spotlight.
▪ The Hill: Tensions rise between Thune, White House over stalled agenda.
▪ The Hill: House GOP presses Senate to act on reconciliation framework.
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