Lifezette
by Jim Stinson
Updated 08 Sep 2017 at 12:22 PM
President Donald Trump has unleashed a pair of new strategies to gain leverage over recalcitrant GOP lawmakers in Congress: Flirt with the Democrats and force the hand of Congress through orchestrated crisis.
The president shocked GOP leaders in Congress Wednesday by cutting a debt-ceiling bargain with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The deal tied funds for Hurricane Harvey recovery to a three-month increase of the debt ceiling. Many conservatives howled at the move but some suggested it was a sly move to encourage congressional Republicans to play ball on key agenda items, such as tax reform, going forward.
"[It was] a bold political move, free of ideology, that could clear the September decks for tax reform," Andrew Malcolm, a conservative columnist for McClatchy, told LifeZette in an email.
The shock Wednesday move followed another bold play by Trump on Tuesday, when he revoked the executive order of former President Barack Obama known as DACA, for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA provided de facto amnesty to over 800,000 illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.
Democrats and Republicans were shocked Trump dared to revoke the order, but the president included a six-month delay on the action, all but forcing the GOP-led Congress to act under immense political pressure. Most observers agree Trump would like to see a compromise deal be struck that includes funding for a wall or serious immigration reform — coupled with legal status for so-called dreamers, the term for recipients of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.
Forcing the hand of lawmakers in Congress over immigration could be a trial run for a similar strategy with health care.
The administration agreed to pay controversial subsidies that prop up the Obamacare system in August, but on a temporary basis. Trump could still instruct his administration to halt the payments in the future, throwing the health care markets into an orchestrated chaos to force action on an Obamacare replacement on Capitol Hill.
Siding with the Democrats on the debt ceiling also creates pressure on Republicans to move faster on their promised agenda.
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http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/trumps-new-approach-congress-play-hardball-gop/
