GOP struggles to control its own agenda

[DonViejo]

The next six months are full of hazards for Republicans — largely created by Trump.

By BURGESS EVERETT, SEUNG MIN KIM and KYLE CHENEY 09/09/2017 07:33 AM EDT

President Donald Trump’s flirtations with Democrats and fixation on divisive campaign promises have paved the way for hazardous, rolling deadlines over the next six months on spending, the debt ceiling and immigration.

The debt and spending bill approved by Capitol Hill on Friday averted imminent fiscal disaster, but it’s added more misery for a Republican Party whose agenda has floundered even with unified control of Washington for the first time in a decade. It’s also given Democrats significant leverage to imperil tax reform, the GOP’s best hope at a major legislative victory.

Rather than dictating the agenda of Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers oftentimes find themselves at the whims of a capricious White House, Democrats in the minority and a calendar that’s getting increasingly packed ahead of campaign season next spring.

Speaker Paul Ryan predicted in January that tax reform, Obamacare repeal and a border wall would all be done by now. Instead, Obamacare repeal may be completely dead at month’s end, there are just broad strokes on tax reform and many Republicans oppose the border wall being pushed by their own president.

Now GOP lawmakers across the party’s ideological spectrum are agonizing about the party’s stark lack of achievements after getting rolled by Democrats in debt ceiling negotiations this week.

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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/09/trump-creates-hazards-for-republicans-congress-242499

[procon]

1. Frankly, I'd be surprised of the Republican passed any significant legislation.

They can't even overcome their own internal fighting, plus fighting with Dems, and now they got an open fight with Trump, and they've got their gerrymandered voters screaming for them to make more bad decisions.

Now they've got significant foreign troubles which Trump has created unnecessarily, and all of those areas will cost money. Domestically, there are costly natural disasters from fires in the west and hurricanes in the south, that are already adding up to hundreds of billions and rising. Then there's the regular costs of raising the debt ceiling, and the fiscal budget. And there are certain factions in the GOP that don't want to pay for any of it.

Which gets the first priority; disaster relief for millions of Americans, or tax cuts for a handful of the rich people in the country? Where is the greatest need; healthcare for all, or a wall like all the other barriers around the world that never worked?