Tensions reach new high between Trump, GOPTensions are bubbling over between President Trump and Senate Republicans.
White House officials are blaming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for
getting stuffed at the goal line on ObamaCare repeal-and-replace legislation, while GOP senators say Trump failed to provide any meaningful political momentum for the prized measure.
“He was of no help,” grumbled one GOP senator, who
doubted that Trump would have done much to defend lawmakers from political attacks if the bill passed.
A member of Trump’s team says their boss bears no responsibility for the embarrassing loss because
McConnell was in charge of putting together a Senate package.
“
This was McConnell’s deal,” said a White House official when asked what went wrong.
Republican sources close to McConnell complained that it gave conservatives such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) “a place to go” if they opposed the Senate bill.
Lee helped drive a stake through the foundering bill Monday when he announced he would vote against the motion to proceed to it, surprising White House officials and Senate Republican leaders alike.
Trump’s defenders in the Senate point out that he made efforts to corral wavering senators.
He invited all 52 members of the Senate Republican Conference for a meeting shortly before the July Fourth recess to give them a pep talk and also invited moderates and conservatives to sit down with him over lunch to discuss their concerns with the legislation.
Trump peeved other Republican senators earlier this month when
he pressured them to cancel their August recess, a mid-year break that is usually sacrosanct.
“I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!” he tweeted.
McConnell relented soon after and agreed to cut the first two weeks of the five-week August recess.
A rumor is now circulating within the Senate Republican Conference that
Trump is likely to up the ante by calling on senators not to take any recess in August until they pass healthcare legislation, a scenario that is unpopular with many lawmakers.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/342650-tensions-reach-new-high-between-trump-gop
