Senate Republicans brace for GOP family meeting with Trump on the Hill

WASHINGTON – For weeks, acrimony has simmered between President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans.

The Justice Department's ill-fated "anti-weaponization fund," the Iran war, Trump's campaign-trial retribution, and his controversial interim spy chief – all have created issues between the Republican-controlled White House and the Republicans who control the Senate.

Those frustrations could be on the verge of boiling over.

Trump is scheduled to take an unusual trek over to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, June 24, for a lunch meeting with GOP senators. In a message to his colleagues, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, who invited the president, said he hopes they'll have "robust conversations" about "how we should spend our time between now and the November elections."

"I hope everyone will be vocal as to what they think is the best path forward," he wrote in the memo, which was obtained by USA TODAY.

The high-stakes sit-down could be a chance for GOP lawmakers to finally, as a group, convince the president of something they've spent months signaling to him individually: Several of his biggest legislative demands likely don't have the support to pass. Many of those senators want Trump to refocus his attention on driving other priorities — including the farm bill, a highway bill, defense policies, and avoiding another government shutdown.

If it doesn't go well, though, the tête-à-tête could serve to deepen the divisions that are already threatening the Republican Party's messaging strategy before the midterms.

Saving the SAVE Act

As Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, put it, some Republicans are just tired of all the recent "squabbling."

"I want to focus on all the positives that we're missing," said retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, "because too many are focused on our differences."

A day before his Senate meeting, Trump told reporters that he wanted to speak to senators about the SAVE America Act, a voting restrictions bill that he's identified as one of his top priorities.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, has consistently said there aren't enough votes to pass the legislation, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to vote, among other election-related changes. To enact the bill anyway, Trump has pushed him to abolish the filibuster, the Senate's 60-vote threshold.

Such a change would have drastic implications, potentially allowing the majority party to pass significantly more party-line legislation.

"John is a leader, and hopefully he can get the votes," Trump said on the tarmac during a visit to Pennsylvania.

But that same morning, Thune was reiterating what he called the "facts on the ground" about the current Senate voting math. There aren't enough Republicans who want to "nuke the filibuster," he said, and "there aren't going to be 10 Democratic votes to all of a sudden to support the SAVE America Act."

"Those are just hard realities," he said.

Scott said he was confident the meeting would be "very positive" and believed the president is realistic about the legislative agenda in front of him.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, said he was looking forward to seeing Trump. But he couldn't predict what lawmakers might say to him.

"I don't have any idea what's going to happen," Kennedy said. "I can't predict the future. I have to wait for it, like everybody else."

Contributing: Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY

Zachary Schermele is the congressional correspondent for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.