Trump meeting with Senate Republicans on mega-MAGA moonshot
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President-elect Trump is set to visit Senate Republicans on Wednesday — after publicly siding with House Speaker Mike Johnson over how to pass major policy wins.
Why it matters: The new GOP trifecta needs to get on the same page before the much harder decisions come due.
- Some Senate Republicans want to convince Trump that it's in his interest to divide his "one big, beautiful bill" into two separate packages.
- Trump has backed one strategy and then the other — he just wants to get it all done. In a Hugh Hewitt interview on Monday, Trump indicated he would be fine with two bills too.
Between the lines: Wednesday's Senate GOP invite is a standing offer, we're told.
- Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) will host Trump at the upcoming meeting as policy chair and has made it clear he's welcome whenever he wants to come, according to a source familiar.
- Trump is expected to join the Senate GOP at its 6pm ET meeting. He'll be in town for the late President Jimmy Carter's funeral.
Zoom out: Some Republicans are agnostic on whether they should cram all their priorities into one massive package or move first on a border and deportation bill and then turn to tax legislation.
- Many are privately concerned that attempting to fit everything into one bill will condemn it to failure.
Zoom in: Johnson, fresh off his squeaker of a speaker's victory, knows math isn't his friend when he's looking for 218 votes.
- He is convinced he needs to wrap all of Trump's priorities — from ending taxes on tips to increasing border funding — into one massive bill and then convince his colleagues to all hold hands together, listen to Trump … and jump.
- Trump will host a series of House Republicans at Mar-a-Lago later this week, including members of the Freedom Caucus, people pushing to restore the SALT deduction and various committee chairs.
What they're saying: Two of Trump's most frequent phone buddies — Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) — said nothing's set in stone.
- "If we can get both of them done in one package, great, if we got to split them up, great," Mullin said. "All I'm saying is that I know that his Senate can deliver.
- "I had multiple conversations with the president. He just wants it. He just wants the legislation to become permanent."
- "Whatever they think they can do over there [in the House] is what we need to do," Tuberville told us. "I think it could still go either way."
The bottom line: Senate GOP leader John Thune tried to downplay the differing ideas, telling Punchbowl News the split over strategy is less important than the substance of what gets passed.
- But Trump and his Hill leaders have been clear they intend to move fast. A divide over mechanics could slow things down.
- The historically slim margins in the House could mean that Thune defers to Johnson based on what can pass the chamber.

