Republicans Brace for Messy Slog on Capitol Hill

“House Republicans came here to President Donald Trump’s resort to map out what’s ahead for their legislative agenda. The big takeaway: It’s looking treacherous,” Politico reports.

“Despite progress on the stated goal of the three-day retreat — coalescing around a fiscal blueprint for their vast party-line agenda — what they saw wasn’t pretty: Key strategic disputes continued to fester inside the GOP ranks, and the uproar from Trump’s federal spending freeze gave vulnerable members a taste of the backlash that could result if they follow through on promised cuts to key programs.”

“Together it portends a difficult job ahead for Speaker Mike Johnson as he assembles the votes needed to enact Trump’s policy agenda. Johnson and Trump’s message for the GOP rank-and-file isn’t exactly calibrated to settle their anxieties: stay united, or else.”