Inside the Senate GOP's heated meeting with Stephen Miller
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GOP frustration bubbled over in a closed-door meeting with senators and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on Thursday morning, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The border has long been a unifying issue for Republicans. Now it's a point of drama as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) seeks to make cuts to some border funding in the Trump budget bill.
- Paul was not physically in the room with Miller, but his presence was overwhelming.
- Two sources described the meeting as heated and shared frustrations that Paul was using his power of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chair to make a unifying issue divisive.
Zoom in: Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) grew particularly frustrated at Miller for not having more specific statistics on hand, per two sources.
- Miller indicated Paul already had detailed statistics — about how they arrived at the billions of dollars needed to continue building a border wall, for example — but was not sharing them with other senators.
Zoom out: Paul's version of the border security text for the bill would have significantly less funding. He has long balked at the price tag. He's expected to vote "no" on any final package due to its debt ceiling measures.
- In a different closed-door meeting on Wednesday, Paul pitched GOP senators on needing to have more information about why the border price tag was so high — $150 billion.
Sen. Ron Johnson also expressed frustration in the meeting, and told reporters afterward he had an issue with the White House's math on the border money.
- Johnson later told Axios it was a "simple misunderstanding."
- "Stephen didn't realize we didn't have the detailed breakdown in cost, so he explained why the wall was going to be more expensive," Johnson said.
The bottom line: "I think Stephen Miller made an excellent presentation justifying the President's budget request. Senator Paul's analysis, I never bought," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Axios.
- "What I found from that briefing is that the White House provided ample information to justify the request," he said.
- Graham tried to ease tensions toward the end of the meeting, focusing on the need to provide border funding now — while they can do so along party lines.
Editor's note: This is a breaking news story and has been updated.
