Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have been the face of Congressional opposition to Donald Trump.
They have worked to thwart his every goal on every level.
So they could not believe what happened in one Oval Office meeting.
Donald Trump recently met in the Oval Office with Schumer, Pelosi, Speaker Paul Ryan, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The plan was to plot a way forward on September’s legislative schedule which includes a bill to fund the government, raise the debt ceiling, and provide disaster relief for Texas after Hurricane Harvey.
Ryan and McConnell pushed for an 18-month debt ceiling increase that would protect members from having to fight for spending cuts.
But they have been unable to leverage their majority to pass a plan that would include spending cuts that would cut the debt or shrink government.
Trump has been frustrated with McConnell and Ryan’s failure to move on the Make America Great Again agenda that got him elected.
So in the meeting Trump sided with Schumer and Pelosi and agreed to a three-month debt ceiling increase and a three-month bill to fund the government.
The Washington Post reports:
“Trump made his position clear at a White House meeting with both parties’ congressional leaders, agreeing with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on plans for a bill to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling for three months.
That effectively postpones until December a divisive fight over fiscal matters, including whether to fund construction of Trump’s long-promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We had a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,” Trump told reporters Wednesday aboard Air Force One as he traveled to North Dakota. “We agreed to a three-month extension on debt ceiling, which they consider to be sacred — very important — always we’ll agree on debt ceiling automatically because of the importance of it.”
In siding with Democrats, Trump overruled his own treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, who was in the middle of an explanation backing a longer-term increase when the president interrupted him and disagreed, according to a person briefed on the meeting who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Trump was “in deal-cutting mode,” the person said.”
Some conservatives were not happy with the deal.
Bloomberg reports:
“Democrats got exactly what they wanted,” House Freedom Caucus head Mark Meadows said, adding that the deal “gives them the greatest leverage in the world to get exactly what they want later.”
The White House tried to spin the agreement as clearing a path to pass Trump’s tax cuts.
NEW: Trump's legislative director Marc Short says Trump agreed to shorter debt ceiling deal in order to "clear the decks" for tax reform.
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) September 6, 2017
What are your thoughts?
Was this a bad deal?
Did Trump give away too much?
Or is this part of a grand strategy?
Let us know in the comment section.
