Trumps Next Battle: Keeping These Republican Senators Happy

[elleng]

'While much of the attention in Washington is on who will fill the Trump cabinet, it is already clear who some of the most important people will be when it comes to fulfilling the Trump agenda.

One group will be particularly well positioned to either accommodate or infuriate Donald J. Trump: a handful of independent-minded Republican senators who have shown a willingness to break with the president-elect and have readily split with their own party on issues in the past.

Given the narrower divide in the Senate after the election, these senators must be kept on board if Mr. Trump and the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate want to advance legislation and nominations in the face of Democratic opposition.

Some are already making known their readiness to take on the new administration. “There will be some areas where I don’t agree, and it will be my job to represent a coequal branch of the government,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who was outspoken in his criticism of Mr. Trump during the campaign.

Other senators who will be prominent in the “will-they-or-won’t-they” caucus include Mr. Graham’s longtime ally, John McCain of Arizona; Jeff Flake of Arizona; Susan Collins of Maine; Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Lamar Alexander of Tennessee; Ben Sasse of Nebraska; and Rand Paul of Kentucky.'>>>

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/us/politics/donald-trumps-republicans-senate.html?

[jaysunb]

1. I think Jeff Flake can be added to the list. n/t