To a member, House Republicans are urging President Trump to stay firm on what he wants in the budget and not yield to Senate Democrats on anything — especially his controversial plan for major immigration reform.
That’s what Rep. Tom Cole (R.-Okla.), a House GOP Deputy Whip and Vice-Chairman of the House Rules Committee, said on Saturday afternoon. He spoke to Newsmax shortly after a closed-door lunch of the House Republican leadership in the office of Speaker Paul Ryan.
“If [Trump] holds firm — and we believe he will — the Democratic senators will go home and find a real fissure in their ranks,” Cole told us, “The hard left will want them to dig in further and keep the government closed until Trump backs down. But a lot of others are going to ask why you didn’t accept a package that included missile defense and a six year CHIP [Children’s Health Insurance Package] just because you wanted him to back down on the immigration issue.”
Cole suggested that similar tactics hurt Republicans in the government shutdowns of 1995-96 under Bill Clinton and in 2013 under Barack Obama.
“Both times, we overplayed our hand,” he said, pointing out that in both situations the Democratic President and his allies in Congress emerged on top in the end.
The Sooner State lawmaker said that Senate Democrats should be reminded that the government funding they are stopping keeps the current levels of spending the same as in Fiscal Year 2017.
“So we can negotiate on other things,” Cole said, “But let’s do it when the government is running.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, go here now.
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