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As Trump’s Tactics Fall Short, Pence Takes Lead on Health Bill On Senate Health Bill, Trump Falters in the Closer’s Role
(about 5 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Trump personally lobbied House Republicans to pass health care legislation this year, but the Trump team’s heavy-handed tactics have been ineffective in the Senate, leaving him on the sidelines while Vice President Mike Pence led the effort to salvage the foundering bill. WASHINGTON — President Trump began his all-hands meeting with Republican senators at the White House on Tuesday by saying they were “very close” to passing a health care bill, just as efforts to fast-track a vote this week collapsed.
Mr. Trump became more engaged on Tuesday, summoning all 52 Republican senators to the White House for some last-ditch diplomacy, but only after it became clear Republican leaders were postponing the vote until after the Fourth of July recess. If Republicans do manage to broker a deal — as Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, pledged to do during a lively East Room back-and-forth with the president — it is not likely to be because of Mr. Trump’s involvement. Until Tuesday afternoon, the president was largely on the sidelines as the fate of one of his most important campaign pledges played out.
“The White House has been very involved in these discussion,” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said in announcing the postponement. “They’re very anxious to help.” Mr. McConnell, who kept the president at a polite arm’s length while he oversaw negotiations over the bill, asked Mr. Trump to arrange the meeting with all 52 Republican senators during a morning phone call, in part to show senators the White House was in fact fully engaged, according to two people with knowledge of the call.
But the Republican Senate leaders have made it known that they would much rather negotiate with Mr. Pence than the president, according to several White House and congressional officials. And some of the White House’s efforts have clearly been counterproductive. When asked by reporters clustered on the blacktop outside the West Wing if Mr. Trump had command of the details of the negotiations, Mr. McConnell ignored the question and smiled blandly.
Mr. McConnell made clear his unhappiness to the White House after a “super PAC” aligned with Mr. Trump started an ad campaign against Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, when he said last week that he opposed the health care bill. Mr. Trump and his staff played a critical role in persuading House Republicans to pass health care legislation in May, with the president personally calling dozens of wavering House members. But the Trump team’s heavy-handed tactics have been ineffective in the Senate, and White House officials determined that deploying Vice President Mike Pence, a former congressman with deep ties to many in the Senate, was a better bet than unleashing Mr. Trump on the half-dozen Republicans who will determine the fate of the Senate bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
The majority leader called the White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, to complain that the attacks were “beyond stupid,” according to two Republicans with knowledge of the tense exchange on Saturday. Mr. Trump, who is fond of telling friends he is a “closer,” became more involved over the past few days, reaching out to a few reluctant conservatives like Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, who emerged from an Oval Office meeting on Monday saying he was more optimistic about getting to a yes.
“The White House has been very involved in these discussions,” Mr. McConnell said in announcing that a vote on the bill was postponed until after the Fourth of July recess. “They’re very anxious to help.”
Yet over the past few weeks, the Senate Republican leadership has made it known that it would much rather negotiate with Mr. Pence than a president whose candidacy many did not even take seriously during the 2016 primaries. And some of the White House’s efforts have clearly been counterproductive.
Over the weekend, Mr. McConnell made clear his unhappiness to the White House after a “super PAC” aligned with Mr. Trump started an ad campaign against Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, after he said last week that he opposed the health care bill.
The majority leader — already rankled by Mr. Trump’s tweets goading him to change Senate rules to scuttle Democratic filibusters — called the White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, to complain that the attacks were “beyond stupid,” according to two Republicans with knowledge of the tense exchange.
Mr. McConnell, who has been toiling for weeks, mostly in private, to put together a measure that would satisfy hard-liners and moderates, told Mr. Priebus in his call that the assault by the group, America First, not only jeopardized the bill’s prospects but also imperiled Mr. Heller’s already difficult path to re-election.Mr. McConnell, who has been toiling for weeks, mostly in private, to put together a measure that would satisfy hard-liners and moderates, told Mr. Priebus in his call that the assault by the group, America First, not only jeopardized the bill’s prospects but also imperiled Mr. Heller’s already difficult path to re-election.
America First was founded by a group of Mr. Trump’s loyalists — many of them with deep connections to Mr. Pence, including Nick Ayers, a Republican consultant who is regarded as the vice president’s top political adviser. The PAC compared Mr. Heller to Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, and vowed a seven-figure advertising campaign against him. Mr. McConnell and “several other” Republican senators expressed their irritation about the anti-Heller campaign during the White House meeting, according to two people, one of them a senator, who were present. The move against Mr. Heller had the blessing of the White House, according to an official with America First, because Mr. Trump’s allies were furious that the senator would side with Nevada’s governor, Brian Sandoval, a Republican who accepted the Medicaid expansion under the health law and opposes the Republican overhaul, in criticizing the bill.
Josh Holmes, Mr. McConnell’s former chief of staff, said, “That the White House is asking people to take a tough vote and then running ads against members while we’re still in negotiations is so dumb it’s amazing we even have to have the conversation.” According to the senator, the president laughed good-naturedly at the complaint and signaled that he had received the message.
Mr. Priebus did not respond to numerous messages seeking comment. A few hours later, America First announced it was pausing its advertising assault against Mr. Heller, insisting it was doing so because of his willingness to come to the White House meeting with Mr. Trump.
A broad range of Republican senators across the ideological spectrum have indicated their unease with the compromise health bill, which was largely drafted in secret over the last month. But Mr. Trump has few ties with the group, and several Republicans who remain on the fence have tangled with Mr. Trump, either during the presidential campaign or since. America First was founded by a group of Mr. Trump’s loyalists — many of them with deep connections to Mr. Pence, including Nick Ayers, a Republican consultant who is regarded as the vice president’s top political adviser. The group compared Mr. Heller to Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, and vowed a seven-figure advertising campaign against him.
Top Trump lieutenants like Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist, who lobbied members on the House bill, have been all but sidelined. Mr. Priebus has also played a much diminished role.
Mr. Pence has been far more active in seeking out Republican senators. Seema Verma, Mr. Pence’s former adviser in the Indiana statehouse and now a top administration health care official, has been trying to reassure senators that their states will have flexibility on Medicaid under the bill, while Mr. Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, now the White House legislative affairs director, has been quarterbacking the effort from his hideaway in the Capitol.
According to an administration official, Mr. Trump has spoken with several members of the Senate, including Ted Cruz of Texas, his main rival for the 2016 presidential nomination, as well as Mike Lee of Utah and one or two others. But the pace was nothing like the dozens of calls he made to help pass the House’s health bill, aides said.
And the fact that an ostensibly pro-Republican group would respond to Mr. Heller’s criticism of the legislation — he flayed the proposal in harsh terms on Friday but did not rule out eventually backing it — by swiftly accusing him of siding “with Nancy Pelosi” was a shock to Mr. McConnell, who has made no secret of his impatience with Mr. Trump’s impulsive style.
Mr. Heller, the only Senate Republican who will face voters next year in a state carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016, is the top target for Democrats facing a Senate map with few opportunities in 2018. And there were already seven groups — a mix of health care advocacy organizations and more partisan Democratic efforts — on the air in Nevada assailing the Republican health care overhaul, according to a Republican ad buyer tracking the ad traffic.Mr. Heller, the only Senate Republican who will face voters next year in a state carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016, is the top target for Democrats facing a Senate map with few opportunities in 2018. And there were already seven groups — a mix of health care advocacy organizations and more partisan Democratic efforts — on the air in Nevada assailing the Republican health care overhaul, according to a Republican ad buyer tracking the ad traffic.
Neither Mr. McConnell’s office nor his top outside political advisers were warned about an impending attack on one of their most endangered incumbents. “They didn’t check in with anybody,” Mr. Holmes said. “There was no clearing of channels, no heads-up, nothing.” Neither Mr. McConnell’s office nor his top outside political advisers were warned about an impending attack on one of their most endangered incumbents. “They didn’t check in with anybody,” said Josh Holmes, Mr. McConnell’s former chief of staff. “There was no clearing of channels, no heads-up, nothing.”
The anti-Heller assault began with a digital ad buy over the weekend, but it was unclear whether the pro-Trump group would follow through with its threat to spend over $1 million attacking the senator. As of Tuesday, the group had reserved just over $250,000 for ads in Las Vegas and Reno, the two largest media markets in the state, according to the ad buyer. A broad range of Republican senators across the ideological spectrum have indicated their unease with the health bill. But Mr. Trump has few ties with the group, and several Republicans who remain on the fence have tangled with Mr. Trump, either during the presidential campaign or since.
The move against Mr. Heller had the blessing of the White House, according to an official with America First. Mr. Trump’s allies were furious that the senator would join Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican who accepted the Medicaid expansion under the health law and opposes the Republican overhaul, to blast the bill. Top Trump lieutenants like Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist, who lobbied members on the House bill, have been all but sidelined. Mr. Priebus has also played a much diminished role.
But the frustration on Capitol Hill with Mr. Trump and his allies runs far deeper than the ads aimed at the Nevada senator. Mr. Pence has been far more active in seeking out Republican senators. Seema Verma, Mr. Pence’s former adviser in the Indiana statehouse and now a top administration health care official, has also been trying to reassure senators that their states will have flexibility on Medicaid under the bill, while Mr. Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, now the White House legislative affairs director, has been quarterbacking the effort from his hideaway in the Capitol.
Mr. Trump has no centralized political operation. Mr. Priebus, who until he moved to the White House was the Republican National Committee chairman, is the nearest thing the president has to a political enforcer. Until Tuesday’s meeting at the White House, Mr. Trump had spoken with only a few members of the Senate, according to an administration official. The pace was nothing like the dozens of calls he made to help pass the House’s health bill, aides said.
But given his day job, he has multiple other demands on his time. Yet Mr. Priebus remains the de facto head of the party. And he is increasingly on the receiving end of frustration from Republican lawmakers who are irritated about the disorganization and factional nature of Mr. Trump’s White House. A senator who supports the bill left the meeting at the White House with a sense that the president did not have a grasp of some basic elements of the Senate plan — and seemed especially confused when a moderate Republican complained that opponents of the bill would cast it as a massive tax break for the wealthy, according to an aide who received a detailed readout of the exchange.
This month, Mr. McConnell had to place a call to Mr. Priebus simply to push the Republican National Committee to sign off on creating a coordinated campaign for Senator Luther Strange of Alabama, according to two Republican officials familiar with the call. Mr. Trump said he planned to tackle tax reform later, ignoring the repeal’s tax implications, the staff member added.
Mr. Strange, an ally of Mr. McConnell’s who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is facing a primary this summer. Forming coordinated committees that can help incumbent lawmakers benefit from national party dollars is the sort of perfunctory step typically handled by aides at the party committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. After the meeting, Mr. Trump played the role of cheerleader on Twitter, encouraging his weary Republican allies to keep working.
And while Mr. Trump has taken to Twitter and made phone calls in an effort to lobby his party to pass the health overhaul, he has also provided Democrats with potential weapons, namely his description of the House bill he worked to pass as “mean.” “I just finished a great meeting with the Republican Senators concerning HealthCare,” he wrote. “They really want to get it right, unlike OCare!”