Trump heads to Capitol Hill for pivotal meeting as Senate GOP divisions deepen
President Donald Trump on Wednesday will face a Senate GOP hungry for wins ahead of pivotal midterm elections and desperate for a path forward as squabbles and the president’s own abrupt decisions derail their march to November.
Trump hasn’t come to the Capitol to meet with the Senate GOP in over a year, and much has changed in the dynamic between him and Republicans in the upper chamber.
He’s successfully ousted two incumbents, Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, temporarily derailed Republicans’ $70 billion immigration enforcement package, and for the time being, has thwarted a bipartisan attempt at reauthorizing the nation’s controversial spying powers.
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"The question is, do we want to win the midterms?" Cornyn said. "And my question is, how do we get all on the same page and get unified rather than squabbling amongst ourselves?"
There are several items that could be on the docket Wednesday, including the memorandum of understanding with Iran and the next moves on reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
But Trump’s main focus is expected to be the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, stalled voter ID and proof of citizenship legislation that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has time and again told the president Republicans don’t have the votes to pass.
"We're just going to talk about SAVE America," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. "We have to get — we have to pass the SAVE America Act, which is voter ID, which is proof of citizenship, etc. We have to pass it. So we're going to have to talk about that and many other things."
When asked about Thune repeatedly saying Republicans have a math problem, Trump said, "You know, he's a leader. John is a leader. That's what being a leader is about."
"Look, we have to be able to get proof of citizenship when you vote," he said. "Otherwise, we don't have elections. We have to be able to get voter ID. So John is a leader, and hopefully he can get the votes."
Trump’s appearance in the Senate is spurred by an invitation from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who, ahead of the meeting, laid out a roadmap of legislative goals for the next six months, including passage of the SAVE America Act.
"We need to make a clear distinction as to who the good guys are and who the bad guys are," Scott wrote in a letter to colleagues. "We have to demonstrate what Republicans stand for and what Democrats stand for through action, not rhetoric."
Thune acknowledged Scott’s legislative roadmap, and said that when the GOP met "as a family, as a team, that we can look at some of the things that we all want to work together on to try and get done before, before this election."
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"And there are things that I believe will create a record of accomplishment that our candidates can run on," Thune said. "And that will enable us to take an argument to the American people that will persuade them that they want to keep majorities here in Congress, in the United States Senate, and in the House that are Republican to work with this president to get good things done for this country."
Republicans’ struggles to pass the package are two-pronged. Democrats won’t support it, and Republicans aren’t united to pass it — points that have been proven a handful of times on the Senate floor over the last several months.
The SAVE America Act has become a sore subject among Republicans, particularly as a handful of proponents, spurred by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, continue to claim a viable path forward when many in the GOP don’t see one.
It’s led to infighting on social media and eruptions during the Senate GOP’s closed-door lunches. Whether those frustrations in particular play out in front of Trump remains to be seen.
"My guess is, a lot of people will want to talk," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. "We have a lot of people who like to talk. That's why we have a lot of meetings that really should be emails. But I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow."
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said that it was likely a "low-stakes" lunch with the president that wouldn’t erupt into fury between the branches of government.
"I've never been in a meeting with any president with a group of senators that got to be combative and nasty, but maybe that's not the right meeting," Hawley said.
Some of Trump’s and the administration’s biggest critics in the Senate GOP hope that there can be a respectful dialogue that focuses on their wins over the last year and a half, and what future wins can look like with the few months remaining between June and November.
"I want us to focus on all the positives that we're missing, because too many are focusing on our differences and not what we've accomplished," Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said.