The icy relationship between President Trump and congressional Republicans showed signs of thawing on Thursday after the White House spent days trying to assuage GOP lawmakers distressed and surprised by controversial moves the administration made during its tumultuous first week.
At the start of the week, Republican senators were outwardly annoyed with the White House for failing to consult them before issuing a temporary ban on refugees and foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries. But by Thursday, some of the same Republicans were heartened after meetings and conversations with administration officials and the president, as well as his nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Ive been feeling pretty good. I had a good day over there yesterday, said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).
Corker, who was not happy with the lack of communication from the White House earlier in the week, said he met with national security adviser Michael Flynn about Iran and other topics and ended up wandering down the hallway to see President Trump. Flynn was on Capitol Hill on Thursday and told senators he planned to visit regularly.
Vice President Pence visited a closed-door lunch meeting of Republican senators on Tuesday to deliver a conciliatory message about the White Houses mistakes rolling out the executive order banning refugees. Well do better, Pence told them, according to senators in attendance. In addition, senior administration officials have stepped up their outreach to lawmakers.
The damage control underscored the increasingly tense dynamic driving a wedge between Congress and Trumps White House. But it was unclear to some Republican lawmakers whether the breakthrough heralded a new phase in the so-far rocky relationship or a short-lived detente. It remains to be seen how well the president and Republicans can work together on issues such as health care, tax restructuring and foreign policy as Trumps turbulent first fortnight as president neared its conclusion.
The tone and substance of Corkers comments in particular marked a stark turnabout from Monday, when he stood just outside the Senate chamber and told reporters he received no heads-up on Trumps executive order banning refugees and that it was not well done.
On Thursday, Corker warned that things could return to a more bitter state. Today, feeling pretty good talk to me next week, he said.
In addition to the headaches the refugee ban caused Hill Republicans, Trump has complicated life for them in other ways. He has applied public pressure on Senate Republican leaders to go nuclear to confirm Gorsuch if Democrats do not cooperate. Trumps chief spokesman stirred confusion with remarks about how to finance the U.S.-Mexico border wall, and the presidents comments about quickly replacing the federal health-care law after repeal have upped the pressure on lawmakers to quickly deliver an alternative.
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), an outspoken Trump critic, said his interactions with the administration have improved in recent days.
Ive talked to Mike Pence a couple of times, Ive had the legislative liaison, people have reached out on executive orders, so yeah, its good. Much more collaborative, Graham said. He added that the administration asked him for advice this week on a forthcoming cybersecurity executive order.
Pence and other administration officials have intensified their efforts to brief lawmakers and their staffs ahead of major decisions or actions by Trump, such as executive orders.
Two senior White House aides deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn and legislative affairs director Marc Short have been reaching out personally to key GOP lawmakers to foster more trusting relationships on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Aside from behind-the-scenes outreach, Trumps nomination of Gorsuch also went a long way toward healing the early wounds, several Republicans said.
That was good, said Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who was among the many Republicans critical of Trumps refugee ban.
Gorsuch was on Capitol Hill on Thursday for the second straight day, accompanied by former Republican senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who is spearheading the effort to win him confirmation.
Still, there remains skepticism among Republicans both about what Trump is doing and how little Congress has been consulted, particularly on national security and foreign policy matters.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for example, placed a call to Australias ambassador to the United States on Thursday following a Washington Post report about Trumps tense phone call with the countrys prime minister.
Of course not, McCain responded when asked whether he was satisfied with the level of input the Trump administration has given Congress in major foreign-policy directives.
Democrats have been even more vocal in criticizing some of the decisions the Trump administration has made, including the refugee ban and the executive order calling for the construction of the border wall.
These are broad-ranging actions, some of which are of dubious legality and constitutionality that are being taken with little legal input and certainly little to no congressional input, said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
But so far, Republicans have shown little willingness to cross over and join forces with Democrats in using the levers of power to exert influence on the administration.
Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) is hoping to turn bipartisan frustration at top White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon joining the National Security Council into support for legislation to restrict the bodys membership. But Republicans seem skeptical about his approach.
We should be very cautious about ever trying to micromanage from here, said Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), despite his assertion that trying to preclude political people from the National Security Council seems like pretty prudent structure to me.
Trumps open invitation to Bannon to attend all NSC meetings, and his addition of Bannon as a permanent member of the Principals Committee where he was seemingly given a more integral role than even the director of national intelligence or the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has struck many lawmakers as an inappropriate and unprecedented move.
Im hoping that my Republican colleagues wake up to the fact that the country is more important than the party. To let Trump put somebody whos completely unqualified and ideologically driven on the NSC look, we can disagree on some things, but that is too far, said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn).
Warner and a group of Democrats introduced a bill Thursday that would designate the director of national intelligence and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as permanent NSC members and require congressional consent for any administration official not already subject to Senate confirmation.
The national security adviser, homeland security adviser, certain assistants to the president and vice president and their deputies would be exempt from that requirement.
Last year, the Senate Armed Services Committees decided to shrink the size of the NSC from 400 to 200 members. The committees ranking Democrat, Jack Reed (R.I.), said that sets a precedent for the committee to get involved in dictating the NSCs members.
Its within the purview of the defense committee, said Reed, who is alarmed that Trumps changes effectively lose the military nonpartisan professionals, and youre gaining someone whos more of a political operative.
But so far, Republicans disagree.
Thats executive-branch business, said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.), when asked whether Congress should have a role in how the president organizes the NSC.
David Weigel and Ed OKeefe contributed to this report.
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Trump's relationship with Hill Republicans is thawing, at least for now - Washington Post