WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump sat down for dinner with House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday night to discuss a packed list of fall legislative goals.
A White House official said of the meeting:
President Trump and Speaker Ryan had a productive working dinner to review the fall legislative agenda. The priorities discussed were tax reform, the FY-18 budget, funding for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, raising the debt ceiling and the continuing resolution to keep the government funded. The President looks forward to working together with Congress on bipartisan solutions to improve the lives of all Americans.
While the House has passed a rollback of some provisions of Obamacare, the Senate has failed to pass the House bill or a bill of its own. Some pushed the idea that if the Senate could pass some form of Obamacare repeal, the two chambers of congress could work in conference to agree on a version of Obamacare repeal.
Notably absent from the list of items the official mentioned was the repeal of Obamacare. Trump took a very active role in overseeing the passage of the Obamacare rollback bill in the House, having made many of the appeals to members himself. Vice President Mike Pence held frequent meetings on the Hill, working towards passage of a bill. Members of the House Freedom Caucus were also instrumental in negotiating provisions of the bill that finally secured its passage.
It is not clear if funding for the southern border wall was explicitly discussed in Thursday evening’s meeting between Trump and Ryan.
Ryan has faced increasing pressure from members of his own party to make real progress on conservative issues. On Wednesday three members of the influential Freedom Caucus brought their concerns and a warning to Ryan that if he doesn’t make that progress, his position could be in jeopardy.
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