Trump cuts deal with Democrats
US President overrules GOP on fiscal issues, highlighting discord in Republican party
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump briskly overruled congressional Republicans and his own treasury secretary to cut a deal with Democrats to keep the government operating and raise America’s debt limit.
The immediate goal was ensuring money for hurricane relief, but in the process the president brazenly rolled his own party’s leaders.
In dealmaking mode, Trump sided with the Democratic leaders – “Chuck and Nancy”, as he amiably referred later to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi – as they pushed for the threemonth deal, brushing aside the urgings of GOP leaders and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for a much longer extension to the debt limit.
Republicans want that longer allowance to avoid having to take another vote on the politically toxic issue before the 2018 congressional elections.
The session painted a vivid portrait of discord at the highest ranks of the Republican Party.
After an angry August that Trump spent lobbing attacks at fellow Republicans, specifically targeting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for the failure of healthcare legislation, the president wasted little time once Congress came back this week in demonstrating his disdain for the GOP House and Senate leaders charged with shepherding his agenda into law.
At first, in Wednesday’s Oval Office meeting, the Republicans lobbied for an 18month debt ceiling extension, then 12 months and then six, but Trump waved them off.
As Mnuchin continued to press an economic argument in favour of a longerterm deal, Trump tired of it and cut him off midsentence.
At another point, the meeting totally lost focus when Ivanka Trump entered to raise an unrelated issue on childcare tax credits.
Details of the meeting were disclosed by several people briefed on the proceedings who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk publicly.
After the meeting, Trump boarded a plane to North Dakota with Democratic Sen Heidi Heitkamp in an effort to garner bipartisan support for tax legislation that Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are crafting on a purely partisan basis.
That continued the day of bizarre disconnects between the president and the leaders of his party.
Heitkamp later issued a statement saying she needs to know more about Trump’s tax plan before offering her support.
Aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters: “We had a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.”
He didn’t mention Republicans McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, who were also present.
“We agreed to a threemonth extension on debt ceiling, which they consider to be sacred, very important,” he said.
Barely an hour earlier, Ryan had slammed the Democrats’ demand for a threemonth extension as “ridiculous and disgraceful”.
He issued no public statement on the final deal.
Taken together, Trump’s moves appeared to show little regard for the imperatives of his party leaders.
And after the GOP’s failure to pass longpromised legislation to repeal and replace “Obamacare”, the events renewed questions about whether the party can summon the focus and unity to advance tax legislation, the next big item they want to tackle. — AP