Good morning from Doral, Fla., where we are covering the House Republicans’ annual retreat. We have a lot to review this morning, including the latest on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees. More on that below.
Trump day at the GOP retreat. Trump will be the keynote speaker today at the House Republicans’ annual retreat, held this year at Trump National Doral Miami. The hotel even boasts a Donald J. Trump Ballroom. Vice President JD Vance is expected to attend on Tuesday.
The House GOP event will open up with a “casual lunch” from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. The “kickoff and welcome” is at 4 p.m. That will feature Kelle Strickland of the Congressional Institute, the nonprofit that puts on the event; Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who represents this district; and House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain, who is presiding over her first retreat.
The main event is, undoubtedly, Trump’s appearance at his hotel at 5 p.m. today.
The session is titled “Agenda47.” But given Trump’s proclivity to riff about the issues of the day, we don’t expect that he’ll be weighing in on the magnitude of spending cuts to social safety net programs that Republicans will have to stomach in order to extend the 2017 tax cuts, for example.
Yet Trump is good for rallying the frequently warring factions of the House Republican Conference. More importantly, the House GOP could always use a reminder that they’re part of a governing trifecta that has a limited amount of time to enact Trump’s agenda.
If you talk to anyone in the House GOP leadership, you’ll know Republicans desperately need to coalesce around reconciliation instructions soon.
That’s because Speaker Mike Johnson has said that he wants the House and Senate to pass a budget resolution by Feb. 24. This leaves just three weeks for Republicans to release a budget plan and get it through Congress. We also scooped over the weekend that Trump will deliver a joint address to Congress on March 4. He’ll want this process well underway by then.
Remember that the House and Senate need to adopt the same budget resolution to unlock the reconciliation process. So GOP lawmakers need to get on the same page regarding cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other social programs, as well as their tax-cut plans.
The meaty part of the House Republican policy conversations will take place Tuesday and Wednesday. There will be a leadership townhall Tuesday at 10 a.m. followed by a “budget reconciliation outlook” session with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), chair of Republican Policy Committee and House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas).
On Tuesday afternoon, from 2:45 p.m. to 5 p.m., individual committees will hold reconciliation discussions. And on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., each committee will deliver “reports” on reconciliation.
Cabinet nominations. This is a huge week for Trump’s Cabinet-level nominees. Three of his most controversial picks will appear for confirmation hearings.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, will testify before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and the HELP Committee on Thursday.
Kash Patel, the FBI director nominee, and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s (Hawaii), Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, have their confirmation hearings on Thursday morning before the Judiciary and Intelligence committees respectively.
Let’s start with Gabbard, the most endangered of the three. We’ve reported extensively on GOP senators’ concerns with Gabbard — her foreign policy views, her trip to Syria, her support for Edward Snowden and opposition to FISA Section 702, her rhetoric on Russia and Ukraine and more.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) alluded to most of these during his interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. Graham also revealed something that wasn’t supposed to be made public quite yet — that former Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) will introduce Gabbard at her hearing. We’re told that Burr has been offering advice and counsel to Gabbard in recent weeks as well.
This is significant because Burr is a former Intelligence Committee chair who’s well-respected by incumbent Republicans, including those who are seen as potential swing votes on Gabbard’s nomination. Burr was among the Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial.
Gabbard’s path to Senate confirmation remains fraught with trouble. At least two GOP members of the Intelligence Committee — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Todd Young (Ind.) — are on the fence about Gabbard. Republicans have a one-seat majority on the panel, so it would be exceedingly difficult to advance her nomination to the floor if just one Republican defects.
Nom votes: Senators will vote this evening on the confirmation of Scott Bessent as treasury secretary. Bessent got 67 votes for cloture on Saturday, so he’ll be confirmed easily. Next up is Sean Duffy, the nominee for transportation secretary. He’ll be confirmed by Tuesday afternoon.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is expected to file cloture on additional Cabinet nominees as soon as tonight. Thune has several to choose from, including Interior Secretary nominee Doug Burgum, EPA nominee Lee Zeldin, HUD Secretary nominee Scott Turner, VA Secretary pick Doug Collins and Energy Department nominee Chris Wright.
