PHILADELPHIA: President Donald Trump pushed Republican lawmakers on Thursday for swift action on a sweeping agenda including his planned US-Mexico border wall, tax cuts and repealing Obamacare, despite tensions over timetables and priorities.
Congressional Republicans were in Philadelphia for a three-day retreat to hammer out a legislative agenda, with the party in control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade.
“This Congress is going to be the busiest Congress we’ve had in decades, maybe ever,” Trump said in a speech to the lawmakers at a Philadelphia hotel.
“Enough ‘all talk, no action.’ We have to deliver,” Trump added.
But Trump did not hold an expected question-and-answer session with the lawmakers, and his speech veered into side issues such as predicting crowd size for an anti-abortion march in Washington, alleging American voting irregularities and touting winning Pennsylvania in the November 8 election.
House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who initially hesitated in endorsing Trump last year and has criticised him on some issues, said congressional Republicans were in sync with the president, who was sworn in less than a week ago having never previously held public office.
“We are on the same page with the White House,” Ryan said during a news conference with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Trump pressed the lawmakers to act on lowering taxes on “all American businesses” and the middle class and to repeal former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act. Republicans have yet to agree on a replacement for the law known as Obamacare.
Republican US Representative Greg Walden said he would propose a bill next week to ensure people with existing medical conditions could still get coverage if Obamacare is repealed. That requirement is one of the most popular parts of the law.
“Insurance companies will not be able to deny health insurance to people with pre-existing conditions,” Walden said in a telephone interview.
For weeks, Republicans talked about formulating an agenda for the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. In recent days, the talk has turned into a 200-day agenda for passing major legislation before the lawmakers’ August recess.
“It’s going to take more than simply 100 days,” Ryan said. He said he hoped to finish health and tax legislation in 2017, but did not guarantee it.
McConnell said lawmakers would take up legislation to provide $12 billion to $15 billion to pay for Trump’s planned wall along the US-Mexico border. — Reuters
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