Thune-Trump tensions escalate as clock ticks on megabill 3.0
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune talks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol on July 23. Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader John Thune repeated to White House officials in private what he's been saying in public for weeks: We don't have the votes.
Why it matters: President Trump isn't buying it — and he's questioning whether Thune is the man for the job.
- "Well, we're gonna find out," Trump said Wednesday. "I'll let you know."
- Asked Wednesday evening about Trump saying the votes were gettable, Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters, "That must be a different form of math."
Driving the news: Hours earlier, two of Trump's top aides met with Senate Republicans at their weekly lunch to press them to pass a three-part budget reconciliation bill before leaving town, Axios scooped earlier Wednesday.
- The goal is to move a House budget resolution to "pay our troops, help our farms and secure our elections," a White House official told Axios.
- The White House is also floating a separate reconciliation package (a fourth) to raise the debt ceiling during the lame-duck session.
What we're hearing: Many of Thune's members simply don't want to endure another vote-a-rama, the marathon amendment process that comes with every reconciliation bill.
- The White House wants Thune to expand the number of committees that receive reconciliation instructions.
- Many in Thune's conference want to expand the bill in a different direction — and plus-up the $67 billion in defense spending that cleared the House.
- "There's clearly an interest among certain members of our conference for a higher level of military and defense," Thune said Wednesday.
The intrigue: During the meeting, Republicans pointed out that the election-law changes envisioned in the House version of the SAVE Act — including more money for states to enforce voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements — wouldn't take effect in time to affect this November's elections.
Zoom out: The public clash comes at an awkward moment for Republicans: Fourteen weeks before the midterms, the White House and Senate GOP leadership are openly sparring over the president's agenda instead of selling it.
- Trump is trying to increase pressure on Thune, but the majority leader still enjoys broad support within his conference.
- Thune, when asked about Trump questioning whether he's the best person for the job, told reporters Wednesday: "Well, that's nice of him. I guess. I don't know, what do you say on that? That's a decision that's made by my colleagues."
- Even as the two are at odds over reconciliation, Thune is planning to fly to Dallas to join Trump at the president's midterm political convention in September.
