Trump drops GOP’s immigration- overhaul push
WASHINGTON — When House Republicans needed Donald Trump’s backing the most — on their big immigration overhaul — he dashed off a presidential tweet Friday saying they should quit wasting their time on it.
It’s hardly the first time the president has abandoned his allies in a moment of need. Over and over, Trump has proved himself a saboteur, willing to walk away from promises and blow up a deal, undermining the GOP agenda in Congress.
“You just fear that tweet in the morning,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida. The retiring Republican said members of Congress can’t help but think, “Oh, no, how many policies will you undo by the day’s end? Because the day’s not over. Heck, it’s not even noon yet. How many times could he change his mind?”
On Capitol Hill on Friday, the mood was gloomy, particularly among the more centrist Republicans who have been pushing the party’s immigration compromise. That bill would provide $25 billion for Trump’s border wall and set new limits on family visas in favor of meritbased entry — but also create a path to citizenship for young “Dreamers.” It seemed to be losing — rather than gaining — support ahead of a vote rescheduled for next week. Trump had publicly backed the bill earlier in the week.
“It’s a horrifically chilling signal,” said another retiring Republican, Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who lost his primary election last week after frequently criticizing Trump.
“What the president just signaled is, ‘I’m not going to be there.’ And therefore I think people will take the cue,” Sanford said. “I think it makes immigration reform that much more unlikely.”
Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho said lawmakers who are counting on Trump to provide a presidential nudge should reconsider. “He changes so frequently that anybody who depends on that, I think, is in trouble,” he said.
Others — particularly conservative Republicans who don’t support the immigration deal — said Trump’s actions should come as no surprise. He ran on disrupting Washington, President Donald Trump’s tweet Friday that Republicans in Congress should give up on an immigration overhaul until after the November elections isn’t the first time he has stunned GOP allies. aides said, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.
In fact, he does it all the time. Last year, not long after House Republicans stood in the Rose Garden with Trump celebrating passage of their replacement for former President Barack Obama’s health care law, he mocked their legislation as a “mean” bill.
After Congress approved a budget deal to end a government shutdown in February, Trump turned on lawmakers and threatened to veto it.
At a White House meeting this week with some two dozen wayward Republicans who needed nudging on the immigration bill, one lawmaker directly asked the president if he would reverse course on it the way he did when he threatened to veto the budget deal, according to two Republicans familiar with the private exchange. The president reassured them that would not happen, they said.
At the White House, officials were caught off guard by Trump’s sudden shifts this week on immigration.
“Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November,” Trump tweeted early Friday. “Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solve this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!”
However, the moderate Republicans he is alienating by shunning their immigration overhaul are among those most endangered in the midterm elections.
House GOP leaders have made it clear they do not expect the immigration bill to pass, but they made a promise to the moderate Republicans of a vote.