President-elect Donald Trump has invited a number of teams of House Republicans to affix him at Mar-a-Lago subsequent weekend, three sources concerned within the planning informed NBC News.
Trump’s group labored with Speaker Mike Johnson’s management group to finalize which members could be invited, the sources mentioned.
Between Jan. 10 and Jan. 12, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, lawmakers from states affected by the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, chairs of key committees and different teams of Republicans will go to Trump at his Florida residence, simply days forward of his inauguration to a second time period.
The Mar-a-Lago journeys come after a tense speaker vote on Friday during which Trump needed to personally persuade not less than two holdouts to help Johnson’s re-election. It additionally comes as Republicans prepare to take up one massive reconciliation package later this spring that can doubtless embrace an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax regulation.
Trump needs to make it possible for Republican lawmakers throughout the ideological spectrum are unified and on the identical web page together with his formidable legislative agenda, two of the sources added.
A spokesperson for the Trump transition group didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark about subsequent weekend’s visits.
Divisions between totally different factions of the social gathering had been on show after Friday’s speaker vote when members of the Freedom Caucus released a letter saying that they voted for Johnson “due to our steadfast help of President Trump.”
They added, “We did this regardless of our honest reservations relating to the Speaker’s observe file over the previous 15 months.”
Along with Trump’s victory in November, Republican lawmakers retained management of the House and flipped management of the Senate, which means the GOP is prone to have a neater time advancing its agenda as soon as Trump is inaugurated.
But within the House, Republicans have a fragile majority and may barely afford to lose a single vote when advancing Trump’s most popular laws. It’ll power GOP House members to be nearly unanimously united on their agenda.
Already within the first vote of the 12 months, three GOP lawmakers — Reps. Keith Self of Texas, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Ralph Norman of South Carolina — initially voted for somebody aside from Johnson for speaker.
Self and Norman modified their choices minutes after casting their first votes, making certain a victory for Johnson.
