WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump will gather with House Republicans on Tuesday (Jan 6) to ensure they’re aligned on their agenda at the start of a critical midterm election year that could alter the course of Trump’s final two years in office.
GOP lawmakers are hosting a daylong policy forum at the Kennedy Centre, the performing arts venue on the other side of Washington from the Capitol. Its board, which is stacked with Trump loyalists, recently voted to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Centre, though that move is being challenged in court.
The House GOP is convening as they launch their new year agenda, with health care issues in particular dogging the GOP heading into the midterm elections. Votes on extending expired health insurance subsidies are expected as soon as this week, and it’s unclear whether the president and the party will try to block its passage.
Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are trying to corral Republican lawmakers at a time when GOP leaders have a thin majority in the chamber. Meanwhile, rank-and-file lawmakers have felt increasingly emboldened enough to buck Trump and the leadership’s wishes, such as on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
With Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation taking effect at midnight Tuesday, Republican leaders now have a 219-213 majority in the House.
Source: CNA
