Trump set to meet with top lawmakers this week

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – President Trump will meet with congressional leaders this week to discuss several high- stakes, hot- button legislative issues they hope to wrap up by the end of the year.

The meeting is set for Tuesday, and Republicans will undoubtedly focus on tax reform, the GOP’s top priority for 2017. But the more urgent item on Congress’ to- do list is keeping the government open.

Current funding for federal agen- cies will run out Dec. 8, so lawmakers will need to pass a new spending bill before then to prevent a shutdown.

The meeting is expected to include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., and Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D- N. Y. Both House leaders — Speaker Paul Ryan, R- Wis., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D- Calif. — are also expected to attend.

It will take place after Trump returns from spending Thanksgiving in Florida at his private club, Mar- a- Lago.

Congress is back in session and ex- pected to debate tax reform next week.

Democrats will likely push for an agreement to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which helps 9 million children access low- cost insurance. The program expired at the end of September.

The most contentious topic on the table: legislation to protect the socalled DREAMers from deportation. The Trump administration announced in September that it would phase out that program, which granted temporary legal status to many undocumented immigrants brought to the U. S. illegally as children.

Democrats might also push for a fix to clarify the status of an estimated 800,000 immigrants now in limbo. Trump has said Congress should pass legislation to address their status; lawmakers have until March to act before the DREAMers could face deportation.

In addition to sitting down with the four congressional leaders, Trump will address the Senate Republican conference during a closed- door lunch Tuesday. The Senate is scheduled to begin debating a GOP tax reform bill next week.