House Republicans find it difficult to focus on rising costs as they plot 2026 agenda

DORAL, Fla. — House Republicans arrived at their yearly policy retreat aiming to craft a 2026 agenda that will help them keep their majority in the upcoming midterms. But they left with few specifics on what more they can do before the election to quell voter angst about higher prices.

Speaker Mike Johnson told GOP members in a private session Wednesday closing out the retreat that he remains intent on pursuing a new party-line domestic policy bill to follow on last year’s tax-cuts-focused megabill.

While that legislation could theoretically tackle some cost-of-living issues, Johnson didn’t offer any specific policies that would be included or a timeline for passing it, according to four people in the room granted anonymity to describe the private meeting. Some senior Republicans present at the meetings privately warned they don’t have much time left for such a big legislative lift.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, said he awaited party leaders’ ideas for a second megabill, which would be passed through the party line reconciliation process. But he was candid about the GOP’s limited legislative options before November.

“The bottom line is that inflation is stable, gas prices are going to come down once the Iran conflict is over, we'll deal with housing in some way,” he said. “I mean, the American people will see the stability in inflation. They’ll see the stability in energy and gas prices. And, you know, that's probably all we're going to be able to do before the midterms.”

The GOP’s inability to coalesce behind an election year economic agenda is being driven in no small part by President Donald Trump, who opened the retreat by telling House Republicans their “No. 1 priority” should be passing an GOP overhaul of federal elections, with new restrictions on transgender rights tacked on.

Trump all but dismissed the affordability issue, noting at one point that Americans “don’t talk about housing, they don’t talk about anything” except for the SAVE America Act — the elections bill he’s pushing the House to pass a third time.

Asked about the divide between voters’ top priority and the president’s, Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan said, “I don’t think it’s an ‘or.’ I think it’s an ‘and.’”

“When you look at economic issues, that is really what is important to a lot of Americans,” said McClain, the No. 4 Republican leader. “It's pocketbook issues, right? So it's an ‘and’ not an ‘or.’”

Trump’s obsession with the elections bill — and Johnson’s determination to pursue a reconciliation bill despite long odds — leaving Republicans with a tough task in addressing rising prices on everyday goods, which remain an issue of top concern to voters.

Even the new pressure on energy prices from Trump’s decision to join Israel in launching a war on Iran has yet to spur GOP lawmakers into action. Most, like Harris, simply asserted oil prices would come down soon enough.

Pressed on affordability issues, Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) raised the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, noting it’s “disrupting travel” and “people’s lives,” as he also made the case for the Trump-backed elections bill.

“Especially coming into the election, the SAVE America Act is a top priority, as well,” he said. “But … pocketbook issues are what drives people to the polls. So we need to do both at once, focus on affordability, but focus on the integrity of the election.”

The chair of the House GOP campaign committee, Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, tried to square the two demands as he left the retreat Wednesday. Like other leaders, he raised last year’s tax cuts and other bills the Republican-controlled Congress passed last year, arguing candidates have “lots of wins to talk about.”

“Our entire focus as House Republicans is on average, everyday American working families,” Hudson said in an interview. “We've delivered tax relief, a lot of other things they care about — school choice, upgraded the air traffic control system.”

Asked if there’s more Republicans could do to lower prices, Hudson said, “Sure.”

“Lots of other things we'd like to do,” he added. “We just have to figure out if we’ve got the votes.”

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) was among several lawmakers who pointed to pending housing legislation as a major opportunity to address rising prices in a key sector.

“I think there's a program there that we can certainly advance,” Cole said in an interview, mentioning the possibility of energy and transportation bills as well.

But the housing bill is facing a rocky path out of Congress, despite broad bipartisan support. While a version is expected to pass the Senate as soon as this week, it now faces hurdles in the House after Harris and other members of the Freedom Caucus raised objections to provisions dealing with the ownership of single-family homes by large companies and a possible Federal Reserve digital currency.

Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), for instance, said in an interview that “socialist policies” would have to be stripped out of the bill. Several invoked the involvement of progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, who helped negotiate a Senate compromise.

“It’s not as conservative a product as the House bill was,” Harris said.