Trump gathers with GOP lawmakers to map out his agenda
Clip: 1/27/2025 | 5m 4sVideo has Closed Captions
Trump gathers with GOP lawmakers to determine tactics to move his agenda forward
The Trump administration ended week one with a mass firing of inspectors general, a weekend uptick of immigration arrests and a day-long fight over deportations and tariffs with Colombia. The president is now meeting with House Republicans at his golf resort in Miami for their annual strategy retreat. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins reports.
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Trump gathers with GOP lawmakers to map out his agenda
Clip: 1/27/2025 | 5m 4sVideo has Closed Captions
The Trump administration ended week one with a mass firing of inspectors general, a weekend uptick of immigration arrests and a day-long fight over deportations and tariffs with Colombia. The president is now meeting with House Republicans at his golf resort in Miami for their annual strategy retreat. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins reports.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipGEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."
The Trump administration ended week one with a Friday night mass firing of more than a dozen lead inspectors of government oversight, a weekend uptick of immigration arrests and a daylong fight over deportations and tariffs with Colombia.
AMNA NAWAZ: President Trump is meeting tonight with House Republicans at his golf resort in Miami.
Moments ago, he addressed the GOP lawmakers as they gathered for their annual strategy retreat.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: If we do our job over the next 21 months, not only will House Republicans be reelected and expand our majority.
In 2026, we will cement a national governing coalition that will preserve American freedom for generations to come.
AMNA NAWAZ: Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins is in Miami at the Republican retreat and joins us now.
So, Lisa, tell us what you're hearing from those House Republicans.
Are they all firmly behind the president's actions?
LISA DESJARDINS: The sense here, Amna, is that they are.
Certainly, publicly, Republicans are all telling me that they back even his most controversial ideas.
Now, what is happening, though, somewhat behind the scenes is that there is some discomfort for some members on some ideas, including things like Cubans and Venezuelans who have temporary status.
That's an issue here in Miami in Florida in particular.
But members who have problems with the way that President Trump has proceeded here seem to be trying to influence him behind the scenes, not criticizing him.
Overall, he has basically a wide grace period, a very wide berth from his own party to do what he will right now as they watch him.
I asked Speaker Johnson just a few hours ago about President Trump's announcement that he may want to dismantle FEMA, as well as his firings of those inspectors general.
And Johnson defended both of those moves as the sign of what he calls a new era in government.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): When the president says he wants to make the government more efficient and effective, and we say we want to limit the size and scope of government, it means that everything is on the table for reevaluation.
This is a new moment for us to reevaluate everything that the federal government does.
LISA DESJARDINS: Now, essentially, what we have here is not just the party of Donald Trump, but also the Congress for now of Donald Trump.
It really is more than symbolic that House Republicans are meeting here at his resort.
Trump stands to profit both politically and financially from this retreat.
AMNA NAWAZ: And, Lisa, of course, this is a critical time for Republicans' larger agenda.
So what are they discussing at this retreat specifically?
LISA DESJARDINS: You know, I have got to tell you, Amna, I have been to many of these retreats, and I don't think I have ever been at one where the decisions here have had such high dollar figures and potentially such high, far-reaching effects to them.
So let's look at this sort of massive fiscal goals that Republicans have here at this retreat.
First, they want to extend the Trump tax cuts.
That has a price tag of some $4 trillion and could affect every American either way, whether they're extended or not, most every American.
They also want to add to that a host of other tax cuts.
Remember, Trump on the campaign trail raised, for example, exempting tipped wages from tax cuts.
Well, what we have here, what I have seen and other reporters have obtained, is a list, a menu of over 200 kinds of actions related to this tax cut agenda.
That includes also how you might pay for those tax cuts.
So, going along with that, though, there are also some hurdles that Republicans face as well, including fiscal deadlines coming up quickly, including the funding of government.
They also need the House and Senate to agree on an outline for spending.
Deficits are climbing, about $700 billion just the first three months of this year.
And some of these ideas, cuts in particular to Medicaid, are tough politically, Amna.
So they really have their work cut out for them.
They all have to agree, and these are not easy things to figure out.
AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa, walk us through the timeline here.
What's needed to get all of that time?
LISA DESJARDINS: OK, we're going to talk about this a few times, but let me go through this, first of all.
The first step for Republicans is they have to pass a budget, a framework of spending.
So let's talk about what this would look like.
If you look at today, you look at exactly what that outline would be, you start today and you look at January 27 today.
And then the first major deadline, the first fiscal deadline coming up March 14 is when they have to figure out how to fund all of government, no less.
Then Speaker Johnson has announced before that, that major deadline, that he wants to have a budget for the following year from his party by that last week of February.
And what's more is the Congress will not be here all of February.
So there's only three weeks really remaining to get these things done, Amna.
And a reminder that they are down or they will be down soon to just a single-vote majority in the House.
So this is a very difficult business and they're working on it here.
AMNA NAWAZ: That's our Lisa Desjardins reporting from Miami, Florida, tonight.
Lisa, thank you.
LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.
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