A week into heavy negotiations over the budget reconciliation bill, Republicans are leaving town for the weekend with no clear consensus on how to both cut spending and preserve key social benefits.
Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith and Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie met with President Donald Trump Thursday before lawmakers left, in the hopes that he could help smooth over some of the deep divisions in the conference.
Those efforts to keep the president looped in left some members scratching their heads. Rep. Andrew Garbarino summed it up: “I don’t know why they would convince the president when they can’t even convince the majority of Congress.”