GOP lawmakers tackle challenge of turning Trump actions into laws

The Hill

16-03-2025

Republicans lawmakers who are jubilant about President Trump's flurry of executive orders and actions reshaping the government are staring down a challenge: making those changes last by turning them into law.
For now, the GOP majorities in Congress are largely happy to cede power to the executive branch as Trump tests the limits of his executive authority.
But as court challenges and future elections threaten to undo those actions, these lawmakers are strategizing about how to cement them into legislation and then law.
House Republicans in the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the largest caucus of conservatives, launched a 'Set in Stone' initiative to start to identify Trump policies to write into law and pass them through Congress.
That's not an easy task. With few exceptions, lasting policy changes would need to clear a 60-vote threshold to advance in the Senate, necessitating support from at least seven Democrats who have no incentive to help Trump secure legislative wins.
But Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), chair of the Republican Study Committee, says this is just the start of working with congressional leadership to identify opportunities.
'We have identified a handful of bills knowing that some of them are challenging to get across the finish line, but understanding that the American people elected Donald Trump to do these types of things,' Pfluger said.
Those bills include the Dismantle DEI Act, led by Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), to end diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in the federal government; the Birthright Citizenship Act, led by Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), to not provide automatic citizenship to people born to noncitizen parents who do not have permanent residency status; and Rep. Brandon Gill's (R-Texas) bill to codify the 'Remain in Mexico' policy.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) also has bills to make English the official language of the United States, to codify the Gulf of America name change, and the Protect Children's Innocence Act outlawing gender-affirming surgery for minors.
'We're calling for swift floor votes in both the House and the Senate on these critical pieces of legislation,' Pfluger said in a press conference. 'The new golden age and America isn't just a slogan. It's a promise to the American people.'
Yet one of the bills being pushed by the new initiative shows the challenge of getting any of the measures across the finish line and codified.
Senate Democrats earlier this month blocked the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, led by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), which would have prohibited transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports.
Republicans were hoping that Democrats, some of whom have softened on their support for transgender athletes in wake of the 2024 election and polls showing opposition to transgender athletes in girls' sports, would help push the bill through — and two Democrats did vote for the legislation in the House.
But all of the Democrats in the upper chamber, even those facing difficult midterm elections, voted against the bill.
Still, House GOP leaders have promised to codify Trump actions.
'The president has over 300 executive actions already, and we are going to codify so much of what he's doing so that the next team can't unwind it,' Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in February at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Some of those codifying activities are set to take place in regular full-year funding bills for fiscal 2026, or in other clawback legislation.
A number of hard-line Republicans were not happy that the recent funding measure passed last week to continue government funding until Sept. 30 did not include cuts to programs that have gotten the ax from the Department of Government Efficiency. But leaders have pledged to incorporate some of those major changes in the next year's funding process.
The major immediate focus of congressional Republicans, meanwhile, is on crafting an ambitious package of Trump priorities into a reconciliation package that would serve as the president's main legislative priority. The legislation is expected to include an extension of Trump's tax cuts, as well as energy and border priorities.
Unlike the bills the RSC is pushing, that package will be able to bypass the Senate's 60-vote cloture threshold, otherwise known as the filibuster, while Republicans are using a special reconciliation process to advance the legislation — so it can advance along party lines.
Despite the challenges of codifying broad swath of Trump's executive actions, one member at the Republican Study Committee press conference, Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), indicated there could be bipartisan support for some energy-related legislation, such as repealing the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan 2.0 rule.
But Republicans are also looking for some major wins.
'What we really want to see is speed and aggressiveness and trying to get these into law,' Pfluger said.
The 'Set in Stone' project has some support from outside organizations, including Heritage Action, the advocacy arm of the conservative think tank, as well as from Advancing American Freedom, the advocacy organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.