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\u2019s own abrupt decisions derail their march to November.\u00a0
\nTrump hasn\u2019t 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.\u00a0
\nHe\u2019s successfully ousted two incumbents, Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, temporarily derailed Republicans\u2019 $70 billion immigration enforcement package, and for the time being, has thwarted a bipartisan attempt at reauthorizing the nation\u2019s controversial spying powers.\u00a0
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\u201cThe question is, do we want to win the midterms?\u201d Cornyn said. \u201cAnd my question is, how do we get all on the same page and get unified rather than squabbling amongst ourselves?\u201d
\nThere 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).\u00a0
\nBut Trump\u2019s 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\u2019t have the votes to pass.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re just going to talk about SAVE America,\u201d Trump told reporters on Tuesday. \u201cWe have to get \u2014 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\u2019re going to have to talk about that and many other things.\u201d
\nWhen asked about Thune repeatedly saying Republicans have a math problem, Trump said, \u201cYou know, he\u2019s a leader. John is a leader. That\u2019s what being a leader is about.\u201d\u00a0
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\u201cLook, we have to be able to get proof of citizenship when you vote,\u201d he said. \u201cOtherwise, we don\u2019t have elections. We have to be able to get voter ID. So John is a leader, and hopefully he can get the votes.\u201d
\nTrump\u2019s 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.
\n\u201cWe need to make a clear distinction as to who the good guys are and who the bad guys are,\u201d Scott wrote in a letter to colleagues. \u201cWe have to demonstrate what Republicans stand for and what Democrats stand for through action, not rhetoric.\u201d
\nThune acknowledged Scott\u2019s legislative roadmap, and said that when the GOP met \u201cas 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.\u201d
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\u201cAnd there are things that I believe will create a record of accomplishment that our candidates can run on,\u201d Thune said. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d
\nRepublicans\u2019 struggles to pass the package are two-pronged. Democrats won\u2019t support it, and Republicans aren\u2019t united to pass it \u2014 points that have been proven a handful of times on the Senate floor over the last several months.\u00a0
\nThe 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\u2019t see one.\u00a0
\nIt\u2019s led to infighting on social media and eruptions during the Senate GOP\u2019s closed-door lunches. Whether those frustrations in particular play out in front of Trump remains to be seen.
\n\u201cMy guess is, a lot of people will want to talk,\u201d Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. \u201cWe have a lot of people who like to talk. That\u2019s why we have a lot of meetings that really should be emails. But I don\u2019t know what\u2019s gonna happen tomorrow.\u201d\u00a0
\nSen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said that it was likely a \u201clow-stakes\u201d lunch with the president that wouldn\u2019t erupt into fury between the branches of government.\u00a0
\n\u201cI\u2019ve never been in a meeting with any president with a group of senators that got to be combative and nasty, but maybe that\u2019s not the right meeting,\u201d Hawley said.
\nSome of Trump\u2019s and the administration\u2019s 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.\u00a0
\n\u201cI want us to focus on all the positives that we\u2019re missing, because too many are focusing on our differences and not what we\u2019ve accomplished,\u201d Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"