President Donald Trump is expected to address House Republicans at their annual retreat on Monday as lawmakers work to enact his goal for a busy first 100 days of the new administration.
It’s another sign of the House GOP conference’s push for unity with Trump that the conference is being held at Trump National Doral, his golf course and resort near Miami.
‘He’s going to come and address the Republicans there, and we’re looking forward to that,’ Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., confirmed to reporters last week.
Johnson told reporters on Monday that he expects to discuss several issues with Trump, including potentially conditioning wildfire aid to California. It comes after Trump suggested pairing aid to the liberal stronghold with a crackdown on noncitizen voting.
Trump has made no secret of his intent to keep a close eye on the Republican majorities in the House and Senate this year, particularly as they discuss how to use their numbers to pass a massive conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process.
By reducing the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to a 51-seat simple majority, reconciliation allows a party in control of both congressional chambers to enact sweeping changes, provided they’re relevant to budgetary and fiscal policy.
A copy of lawmakers’ schedule obtained by Fox News Digital shows a heavy focus on reconciliation this week, with several closed-door meetings on the matter scheduled for Tuesday.
Johnson also suggested on Monday that it could be a key part of Trump’s speech as well.
‘You all heard me talk about the proverbial playbook that we developed over the last year leading up to this moment, that we knew what would happen. And now we’re working out the final sequence of the plays. And so some big decisions will be made here in the next few days and will align with the Senate and our colleagues there,’ Johnson said.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are also contending with the debt ceiling being reinstated this month after it was temporarily suspended in a bipartisan deal during the Trump administration.
And coming on March 14 is the deadline to avert a partial government shutdown, which Congress has extended twice since the end of the previous fiscal year on Oct. 1.
‘I think obviously everyone is ready to get to work,’ Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. ‘With President Trump’s inauguration behind us, now we’re focused on the task at hand – everything from the border to the tax package, energy and defense and national security, and our debt. What we need to do over the next two years to really fulfill the agenda that we laid out for the American people.’
Lawler said he anticipated reconciliation would be a key focus of Trump’s remarks.
With razor-thin margins in the House and Senate, Republicans can afford few dissenters if they are going to get to the finish line.
Lawler is one of several Republicans who have drawn red lines in the discussions, vowing not to vote for a reconciliation bill that does not lift state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps – limits that have put a strain on suburban districts outside major cities.
He was realistic about setting expectations for their short Florida trip but was optimistic Republicans would eventually come together.
‘I think we’re in the middle of the process and, you know, this is obviously not going to be resolved over these three days,’ Lawler said. ‘But this is, I think, an important opportunity for everyone to really sit down and spend their time going through a lot of these issues.’
