GOP lawmakers tackle challenge of turning Trump actions into laws
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump aides want Texas to redraw its congressional maps to boost the GOP. What would that mean?
This coverage is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Texas' free newsletters here. Republicans representing Texas in Congress are considering this week whether to push their state Legislature to take the unusual step of redrawing district lines to shore up the GOP's advantage in the U.S. House. But the contours of the plan, including whether Gov. Greg Abbott would call a special session of the Legislature to redraw the maps, remain largely uncertain. The idea is being driven by President Donald Trump's political advisers, who want to draw up new maps that would give Republicans a better chance to flip seats currently held by Democrats, according to two GOP congressional aides familiar with the matter. That proposal, which would involve shifting GOP voters from safely red districts into neighboring blue ones, is aimed at safeguarding Republicans' thin majority in Congress, where they control the lower chamber, 220-212. The redistricting proposal, and the Trump team's role in pushing it, was first reported by The New York Times Monday. Without a Republican majority in Congress, Trump's legislative agenda would likely stall, and the president could face investigations from newly empowered Democratic committee chairs intent on scrutinizing the White House. Here's what we know about the plan so far: On Capitol Hill, members of the Texas GOP delegation huddled Monday night to discuss the prospect of reshaping their districts. Most of the 25-member group expressed reluctance about the idea, citing concerns about jeopardizing their districts in next year's midterms if the new maps overextended the GOP's advantage, according to the two GOP aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations. Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, was skeptical of the idea. 'We just recently worked on the new maps,' Arrington told The Texas Tribune. To reopen the process, he said, 'there'd have to be a significant benefit to our state.' The delegation has yet to be presented with mockups of new maps, two aides said. Each state's political maps must be redrawn once a decade, after each round of the U.S. census, to account for population growth and ensure every congressional and legislative district has roughly the same number of people. Texas lawmakers last overhauled their district lines in 2021. There's no federal law that prohibits states from redrawing district maps midcycle, said Justin Levitt, an election law professor at Loyola Marymount University and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's civil rights division. Laws around the timing to redraw congressional and state district maps vary by state. In Texas, the state constitution doesn't specify timing, so the redrawing of maps is left to the discretion of the governor and the Legislature. Lawmakers gaveled out of their 140-day regular session last week, meaning they would need to be called back for a special session to change the state's political maps. Abbott has the sole authority to order overtime sessions and decide what lawmakers are allowed to consider. A trial is underway in El Paso in a long-running challenge to the state legislative and congressional district maps Texas drew after the 2020 U.S. Census. If Texas redraws its congressional maps, state officials would then ask the court to toss the claims challenging those districts 'that no longer exist,' Levitt said. The portion of the case over the state legislative district maps would continue. If the judge agrees, then both parties would have to file new legal claims for the updated maps. It isn't clear how much maps could change, but voters could find themselves in new districts, and Levitt said redrawing the lines in the middle of the redistricting cycle is a bad idea. 'If the people of Texas think that their representatives have done a bad job, then when the [district] lines change, they're not voting on those representatives anymore,' Levitt said. 'New people are voting on those representatives.' The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, Democrats' national arm for contesting state GOP mapmaking, said the proposal to expand Republicans' stronghold in Texas was 'yet another example of Trump trying to suppress votes in order to hold onto power.' 'Texas's congressional map is already being sued for violating the Voting Rights Act because it diminishes the voting power of the state's fast-growing Latino population,' John Bisognano, president of the NDRC said. 'To draw an even more extreme gerrymander would only assure that the barrage of legal challenges against Texas will continue.' When Republicans in charge of the Legislature redrew the district lines after the 2020 census, they focused on reinforcing their political support in districts already controlled by the GOP. This redistricting proposal would likely take a different approach. As things stand, Republicans hold 25 of the state's 38 congressional seats. Democrats hold 12 seats and are expected to regain control of Texas' one vacant seat in a special election this fall. Most of Texas' GOP-controlled districts lean heavily Republican: In last year's election, 24 of those 25 seats were carried by a Republican victor who received at least 60% of the vote or ran unopposed. The exception was U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, who captured 57% of the vote and won by a comfortable 14-point margin. With little competition to speak of, The Times reported, Trump's political advisers believe at least some of those districts could bear the loss of GOP voters who would be reshuffled into neighboring, Democratic-held districts — giving Republican hopefuls a better chance to flip those seats from blue to red. The party in control of the White House frequently loses seats during midterm cycles, and Trump's team is likely looking to offset potential GOP losses in other states and improve the odds of holding on to a narrow House majority. Incumbent Republicans, though, don't love the idea of sacrificing a comfortable race in a safe district for the possibility of picking up a few seats, according to GOP aides. In 2003, after Texas Republicans initially left it up to the courts to draw new lines following the 2000 census, then-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Sugar Land Republican, embarked instead on a bold course of action to consolidate GOP power in the state. He, along with his Republican allies, redrew the lines as the opening salvo to a multistate redistricting plan aimed at accumulating power for his party in states across the country. Enraged by the power play, Democrats fled the state, depriving the Texas House of the quorum it needed to function. The rebels eventually relented under threat of arrest, a rare power in the Texas Constitution used to compel absent members back to return to Austin when the Legislature is in session. The lines were then redrawn, cementing the GOP majority the delegation has enjoyed in Washington for the past two decades. However, what's at play this time is different than in the early 2000s, when Republicans had a newfound majority in the Legislature and had a number of vulnerable Democratic incumbents they could pick off. Now, Republicans have been entrenched in the majority for decades and will have to answer the question of whether there's really more to gain, said Kareem Crayton, the vice president of the Brennan Center for Justice's Washington office. 'That's the tradeoff. You can do that too much so that you actually make them so competitive that the other side wins,' Crayton said. 'That's always a danger.' Texas Republicans are planning to reconvene Thursday to continue discussing the plan, according to Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving, and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Houston, who said they will attend the meeting. Members of Trump's political team are also expected to attend, according to Hunt and two GOP congressional aides familiar with the matter. Natalia Contreras is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. She's based in Corpus Christi. Contact Natalia at ncontreras@ Disclosure: New York Times has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer. Get tickets. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Washington Post
6 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Permitless concealed carry in North Carolina faces uphill battle after some GOP pushback
RALEIGH, N.C. — A bill to let adults carry concealed handguns without a permit cleared the North Carolina legislature on Wednesday, however the path to joining the majority of U.S. states with similar laws remains uncertain. The GOP-backed legislation faces a likely veto from Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, as well as pushback from a handful of Republicans who voted against the legislation in the state House. House Speaker Destin Hall acknowledged those concerns after Wednesday's vote.
The Hill
7 minutes ago
- The Hill
ICE raids accelerate, protests spread
Evening Report is The Hill's P.M. newsletter. Sign up here or subscribe in the box below: Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here THE WHITE HOUSE vowed Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids would continue 'unabated,' as protests spread from Los Angeles into other major American cities. Demonstrations have sprung up in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Austin, Denver, San Francisco and other major cities. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) sought to rally the nation to his side, as U.S. Marines prepared to join National Guard troops dispatched to keep the peace in Los Angeles. 'This isn't just about protests here in Los Angeles,' Newsom said in a direct-to-camera address. 'This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.' The White House warned protesters there would be consequences if demonstrations in other cities get out of hand. 'Let this be an unequivocal message to left-wing radicals in other parts of the country who might be thinking about copy-catting the violence in an effort to stop this administration's mass deportation efforts,' said press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 'You will not succeed. Any lawlessness will only strengthen this president's resolve to defend the majority of Americans who want to live their lives peacefully, free from the fear of violent criminal illegal aliens.' The New York Police Department said at least 80 people were arrested at anti-ICE protests in lower Manhattan on Tuesday night. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) deployed the National Guard to deal with protests in his state. 'Peaceful protest is legal,' Abbott posted on X. 'Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest. @TexasGuard will use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order.' ICE took more than 70 people into custody during an immigration enforcement operation at a meat packaging facility in Omaha. Leavitt said more than 330 people in the country illegally have been arrested in Los Angeles over the past few days, and that more than 100 had prior criminal convictions. 'This administration is going to continue the mass deportation effort that the president promised the American public,' she said. President Trump's border czar Tom Homan said the protests are making immigration raids and deportations 'difficult' and 'dangerous' for the officers seeking to carry them out. 'They're not going to stop us,' Homan told 'NBC Nightly News' anchor Tom Llamas. 'They're not going to slow us down.' Organizers with 'No Kings' are planning about 1,500 demonstrations across the country to protest the military parade scheduled for Saturday in D.C. to mark the Army's 250th birthday. It's also Trump's 79th birthday. Protests and boycotts could also be in effect tonight at the Kennedy Center, where Trump and first lady Melania Trump will attend a production of 'Les Misérables.' LOS ANGELES ON EDGE Hundreds of U.S. Marines are expected to be deployed soon alongside the thousands of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, which has been racked by vandalism, looting and some violent altercations with the police. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) instituted an 8 p.m. curfew on Tuesday night, resulting in dozens of arrests for those who stayed out. Two men have been arrested for allegedly possessing Molotov cocktails. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Los Angeles is 'at a good point.' 'We're hoping it's going to get under control, we hope the curfew will work and we're going to continue to do everything we can to keep California safe if the government of California is not going to help them,' Bondi said. Newsom fumed at what he described as federal interference that furthered the chaos. 'This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation,' he said. A judge rejected Newsom's request to limit troop deployment, pending a Thursday hearing. The Department of Justice called Newsom's lawsuit a 'crass political stunt.' On Thursday, three Democratic governors from blue 'Sanctuary States' will testify before Congress: Govs. Tim Walz (Minn.), Kathy Hochul (New York) and JB Pritzker. 'Sanctuary cities and states will no longer be allowed to shield illegal criminal from deportation,' Leavitt said. 💡Perspectives: • American Conservative: Trump, Newsom play to their bases. Who will win? • Washington Post: Dems ignored the border. The consequences are here. • The Liberal Patriot: Both parties lose the plot on immigration. • The New York Times: The military may find itself in an impossible situation. • City Journal: Trump's unapologetic defense of the rule of law. Read more: • Trump team to send thousands of migrants to Guantanamo. • McIver indicted on federal charges for immigration center encounter. • Senate Dems spar with Hegseth over legality of Los Angeles deployments. • Dems rage against Trump's moves in LA, as some worry about optics. • GOP backs Trump on LA, but there's skepticism over deploying Marines. CATCH UP QUICK NEWS THIS AFTERNOON Trump, Musk talk reconciliation President Trump and Elon Musk are talking about reconciliation, days after their relationship imploded in a mess of threats and allegations. Early Wednesday morning, Musk expressed regret over the feud, which he escalated by alleging Trump had ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 'I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week,' Musk wrote just after 3 a.m. EDT. 'They went too far.' Trump, who threatened to end government contracts for Musk's companies, was asked if he could reconcile with Musk. 'I guess I could,' Trump said in a podcast interview. 'But you know, we have to straighten out the country. Yeah, and my sole function now is getting this country back to a level higher than it's ever been.' Trump said he was mostly upset at Musk for trying to sink his 'big, beautiful bill.' Musk has been raging at the levels of spending and debt in the Trump agenda bill ever since his time at the White House leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) came to an end. 'I have no hard feelings,' Trump told the New York Post's Miranda Devine. 'I was really surprised that that happened,' Trump continued. 'He went after a bill… And when he did that, I was not a happy camper.' The New York Times reports that Trump and Musk spoke on the phone ahead of Musk's expression of regret. The latest on the 'big, beautiful bill'… Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) says he'll keep senators in Washington during the July 4 recess to complete work on Trump's agenda bill by the self-imposed deadline. House Republicans are teeing up changes to the bill, with intent of voting later this week. The Hill's Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks explain: 'The tweaks come after the Senate parliamentarian reviewed the sprawling package and identified provisions that do not comply with the upper chamber's procedural requirements for using the budget reconciliation process, which allows Republicans to circumvent a Democratic filibuster and approve the legislation by simple majority.' MEANWHILE… A pair of House panels voted to advance legislation laying out oversight of the crypto market, amid opposition from Democrats. And House Republicans advanced legislation that calls for more than $450 billion to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs, military construction and other programs for fiscal 2026. It's the first of the 12 annual funding bills House GOP appropriators are hoping to move out of committee before Congress leaves for its August recess. 💡Perspectives: • The Spectator: The tech-MAGA alliance is far from over. • Very Serious: A terrible field of New York mayoral candidates. • The Hill: Trump, Congress can end abuse of taxpayers by PBS and NPR. • The Guardian: Trump wages war against U.S. citizens. • MSNBC: Americans prep for nationwide 'No Kings' rallies. Read more: • House GOP schedule interviews with former Biden aides. • Foreign investors recoil from 'discriminatory' tax in Trump's big bill. • 5 takeaways from the New Jersey primaries. • Sergio Gor cements himself as 'vital' part of Trump's White House. • Most voters in favor of Trump's 'most favored nation' drug price policy. IN OTHER NEWS US, China agree to new trade framework U.S. and Chinese officials announced an agreement in principle on a new trade framework after three days of meetings in London. The deal effectively restores a previous agreement, which the U.S. had accused China of breaking. Both countries will lower tariffs and roll back export controls on goods that are critical to technology. The deal still must be signed off on by President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump said over Truth Social the U.S. would impose 55 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, while China would impose a 10 percent tariff on U.S. products. In addition, China will supply magnets and 'any necessary rare earths,' while the U.S. will draw back restrictions on Chinese students attending U.S. universities, Trump said. Trump enjoyed a raft of good news on trade and the economy on Wednesday. An appeals court ruled that the bulk of Trump's tariffs can remain in place for now, extending a pause after a different court ruled the tariffs were illegal. 'A great and important win for the U.S.,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. And the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data showed inflation coming in lower than expected, contrary to economic forecasts that predicted tariffs would provoke a spike in inflation. Trump has openly pressured Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, but Powell has refused, citing uncertainty from the trade wars. Vice President Vance ripped the Fed on Wednesday, saying Trump has been proven right. 'The president has been saying this for a while, but it's even more clear: the refusal by the Fed to cut rates is monetary malpractice,' Vance posted on X. 💡Perspectives: • The Hill: Military spending is out of control. • The New Republic: The audacity of Trump's self-dealing. • USA Today: Progressives are destroying Democratic norms. • Wall Street Journal: Newsom positions himself as leader of the opposition. • The Economist: Is there a woke right? Read more: • GM investing $4 billion in production shift to US. Someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up to get your own copy: See you next time!
