WASHINGTON (AP) — For House Republicans, the political year began with a pep rally of sorts when President Donald Trump gathered them at the Kennedy Center in Washington for a speech. But by the time MPs completed their first week of work in this mid-term election year, fractures in the party were already visible.
From rejecting Trump’s self-described “Donroe Doctrine” of aggression in the Western Hemisphere to rifts in party unity over health care, Republican lawmakers are showing signs of independence from Trump after spending much of the past year acceding to virtually all of his demands. It showed a new dynamic in the GOP as Republicans embark on a difficult campaign to retain control of both the House and Senate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, speaking Friday at the U.S.-Mexico border with a group of Republican Senate candidates, said Republicans “will be laser-focused” on affordability issues and pointed to legislation in the works on housing and health care.
Thune’s trip to the border and talks about accessibility were a nod to some of the core themes of Trump’s presidential campaign. But the focus in Washington has been dominated of late by Trump’s military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, his threats to use military force to take control of Greenland, the release of files on Jeffrey Epstein and a debate over expanding insurance subsidies provided under the Affordable Care Act — an issue on which Republicans have long struggled to find unity.
Recent shootings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in several US cities, including one that killed a woman in Minneapolis, have also raised new questions about the Republicans’ hardline immigration agenda and shifted attention away from Trump’s management of the border, which he sees as a political success.
Even so, Trump still has a lot of command over the majority of the party. That was demonstrated this week by a pair of failed House veto override votes in which most GOP members sided with the president despite earlier voting on low-profile bills.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky who has been one of the few Republicans to consistently defy Trump, said “there was bully pulpit intimidation” by the president that caused the veto override to fail.
However, Democrats argue that Trump is becoming distracted from the needs of the American people, especially after the attack on Venezuela.
“They are headed for another endless and costly war while American families here struggle with skyrocketing costs,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
Venezuela War Powers Vote Draws GOP Support
To prove their point, Democrats are forcing votes on war powers resolutions that would prevent Trump from attacking Venezuela without congressional approval. Such measures are rarely successful, but a procedural vote on the legislation drew the support of five Republicans on Thursday, setting up a final vote next week. House Democrats are also pushing a similar resolution.
GOP senators who voted for the legislation tried to defuse the conflict with Trump, arguing that their positions were in line with his own campaign promises to scale back US commitments abroad.
“A prolonged campaign in Venezuela involving the U.S. military, even if unintentional, would be the opposite of President Trump’s goal of ending foreign ties,” Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican who voted for the war powers resolution, said in a lengthy statement explaining his vote.
Trump reacted angrily. The president promptly demanded that the five Republicans, including Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who is running for re-election this year, “never be elected to office again.”
Republicans are already facing the retirements of several lawmakers who have had uneasy relationships with Trump, and there have been concerns that such clashes could further complicate their campaign image.
“If Susan is not the senator from Maine, we’re going to end up with a Democrat,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican. “It would be 10 times worse. But I appreciate that President Trump is absolutely furious.”
GOP rejects Trump’s Greenland plans
Trump’s desire to possess Greenland and his administration’s decision not to rule out military force have met with significant resistance from GOP lawmakers this week.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is retiring after crossing Trump last summer, took to the Senate floor to proclaim that he was “fed up with stupid.” He specifically criticized White House deputy policy chief Stephen Miller, who made comments that Greenland should be part of the US.
“I want good advice for this president because I want this president to have a good legacy,” Tillis added. “And this nonsense about what’s happening to Greenland is a distraction from the good work he’s doing, and the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs.”
Other Republicans, including Thune and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, gently dismissed military threats against Denmark, which is a US NATO ally.
After meeting with the Danish ambassador, Wicker said that Denmark has the right not to sell Greenland.
“I’m troubled by Greenland. I’m troubled by some of the things he’s doing. I don’t understand,” said Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, another retiring Republican. “I feel like Congress should be more independent and should provide checks and balances here.”
Bacon added that Trump still had the ability to “bully” his fellow Republicans, but that Trump’s threats “sent a chill up my spine.”
Health care votes expose divisions
During Trump’s speech at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, he urged Republicans to embrace the health care issue. However, when the House voted Thursday on a Democratic proposal to extend expired health care subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, 17 Republicans broke with the party leadership to help pass the bill.
People recognize the challenge here, which is to address health care affordability, said Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, who voted for the proposal.
He has continued to criticize the Affordable Care Act, a signature piece of legislation for Democrats, but the health care debate unfolding in Congress is one where Democrats feel confident about a central campaign issue.
“In this first full week of the new year, House Democrats — each of us joined by 17 Republicans — have partnered in a bipartisan way to protect the health care of the American people,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said following the vote.
The January 6 board is out of storage
On the fifth anniversary of the Capitol attack, Trump told House Republicans that he had told his supporters to go “peacefully and patriotically” to face Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election. The White House also unveiled a website that described the Jan. 6 attack as a “witch hunt” against him by Democrats and some Republicans in Congress.
But the Senate, which Republicans control, this week agreed to display a plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol — a cause that has become a point of contention with Trump as president. The plaque was kept in storage rather than displayed because House Speaker Mike Johnson said the memorial did not comply with the law.
It was Tillis again who pushed the issue to the Republican side. He said it was important to honor the police and staff who risked their lives and safety that day.
Democrats who joined the effort said they were alarmed by the White House’s attempt to reshape the narrative.
“It’s so important that we be honest with the American people about what happened,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Steven Sloan, Lisa Mascaro and Nathan Ellgren contributed.
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This story has corrected the party affiliation of Rep. Mike Lawler. He is a Republican, not a Democrat.