Republicans on Capitol Hill had been hoping to spend the summer touting a rare bipartisan legislative feat, but Donald Trump and his growing anger toward Senate Republicans torched that effort Wednesday. And more trouble could lie ahead, if a tense in-person meeting was any indication. Trump descended on the Capitol for a Senate GOP lunch, where he vented frustration over both an Iran war powers resolution that passed the chamber this week — with the help of a few Republicans — and a stalled election security and voter ID measure known as the SAVE America Act. It came as communication between the two sides of Pennsylvania Avenue continues to deteriorate. The latest surprise for Republican lawmakers had arrived just that morning: Hours before he was scheduled to sign a sweeping housing package into law from the Capitol, Trump abruptly canceled the event, saying he won’t sign it until Congress passes SAVE, “which I consider to be a National Emergency.” It’s not the first time Trump has pulled attention away from senators’ agenda while demanding unwavering loyalty. During the meeting, Trump got into a shouting match with Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who he successfully primaried out of his seat, over whether the president has been forthcoming about the war in Iran and a pending peace deal to end it. After Trump asked the room how anyone could vote for the war powers resolution — which aims to halt any further military action against Iran not authorized by Congress — Cassidy asked the president whether the question was “rhetorical.” “Well, we’ve not been briefed on how it’s going,” the Louisiana Republican told reporters after the lunch, summarizing his exchange with Trump. “At which point I think the president said something negative about me.” Republican senators have been pressing the administration for hearings and more information about peace negotiations and an expected $80 billion defense-related supplemental request from the White House. “I’m not going to be bullied when I feel like I’m asking a question the American people need to know,” Cassidy said. “It began to escalate.” Cassidy also said Trump threw his primary loss in his face: “‘You lost the election,’ that sort of thing.” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., described it on Fox News as Trump “calling people out.” “But people need to be called out if you’re not going to vote for this country,” Tuberville said, describing Trump as annoyed by the timing of the war powers’ vote amid negotiations. “The Iranians see what’s going on, so what’s going on? Your Senate just passed ‘no war against Iran’ … right in the middle of negotiations.” Senate Steering Committee Chairman Rick Scott, R-Fla., who’d invited Trump to the Hill, described him as “disappointed” in those Republicans. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., summed up the exchange between Cassidy and Trump: “I wouldn’t say super combative, but very passionate. Very passionate,” while Cassidy said the moment was “gratifying.” “Several senators came up afterwards, very encouraging,” Cassidy said. Whether the visit cleared the air or clouded it remains to be seen. Trump called it a “great meeting” and described unity in the party, but noted he “doesn’t like a few people. That’s OK.” Stuck on SAVE Despite those grievances and more, the lunch’s central theme was how to push through the GOP’s marquee voter ID bill, which has little chance of overcoming the Senate’s 60-vote cloture threshold and continues to be a thorn in Majority Leader John Thune’s side. Senators described Trump as passionate about getting it signed into law, but said they were left with scant specifics of how to do so. The bill would require voters to prove citizenship to register and photo ID at the polls, but Democrats and a handful of Republicans oppose it. Thune, R-S.D., has repeatedly told the president the legislation does not have the votes and his members aren’t willing to abolish the legislative filibuster to lower the threshold. “I can’t say it was surprising,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said of the president’s priorities. “He’s strongly committed to the Save America Act, and blowing up the filibuster.” Still, Thune’s math problem was a message other senators shared again in the luncheon, per several attendees. Scott told reporters afterward he conveyed several options to Trump, including forcing Democrats through a so-called talking filibuster, attempting to break the legislation into smaller pieces or looking at “what we can do through carrots and sticks with regard to a reconciliation package.” “I’m a business guy. You have to live in reality,” Scott said. But last month, the Senate essentially abandoned an extended debate on the legislation after it resulted in lackluster floor time, and many see using the reconciliation process as a nonstarter given the chamber’s “Byrd Bath”; under Senate rules, reconciliation provisions would need to have a budgetary impact that cannot be “merely incidental” to the larger purpose of the measure. Trump’s move on Wednesday to cancel the signing event for the housing bill took many off guard, as it upended a victory lap lawmakers had planned, and desperately need, when senators go home next week. Both parties hoped to use the housing package as a pillar of their midterm messaging around affordability. The president had previously threatened not to sign other bills into law until SAVE has passed, but didn’t hold firm to that threat until Wednesday. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, described it as a “complete surprise” and said “to try to make this into a political issue is wrong.” The president has not said he would veto the bill, and it could still become law even if he leaves it unsigned. Once the enrolled bill is officially “presented” to the president, it starts a 10-day clock — excluding Sundays — in which he must act. “[Speaker] Mike Johnson could, right now, at any time, formally present this bill to the president and make the president choose: Will he veto it or will it become law in 10 days?” House Minority Whip Katherine M. Clark, D-Mass., said at a Wednesday news conference. Tuberville said Trump’s move created “leverage,” adding he supported the strategy. But Democrats were quick to seize on the delay, describing Trump as indifferent to what Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called a “housing crisis.” “Can I underline crisis three times?” said Warren, who helped write the housing bill, describing it as “good for urban America, rural America, first-time homebuyers, renters, seniors, families that are expanding.” “It’s a bill about doing good things, and Donald Trump says he just doesn’t care,” she said. In a split-screen moment, as the Senate prepared to receive the president, across the Capitol in Statutory Hall, the stage that was supposed to host the signing event was being taken apart. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., posted a video with the stage breakdown in the background. “It was gonna be one of the best things we could do on lowering costs but then he canceled it at the last minute because he wanted some MAGA stuff to happen instead,” Subramanyam said. “Instead, we have a bunch of empty chairs here.” Wednesday’s blowup could signal more turmoil ahead as senators look to check more items off their legislative list ahead of the midterms in the fall. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who Trump also successfully primaried out of his seat, said the president “closed by preaching unity. But he spent the entire hour talking about things which were not exactly unifying.” “I think everybody walked out with the very same opinion they had before he came in,” Cramer said. “But you know, but we heard him out.” Jacob Fulton, Ariel Cohen and Mark Schoeff Jr. contributed to this report.
