President Donald Trump surprised the leaders of his own party in Congress on Wednesday when he backed a deal pushed by Democrats to attach hurricane relief money to a shorter-term bump in the debt ceiling as well as keeping the government open, cutting off his own Treasury secretary to strike a deal.
The decision was one of the most fascinating and mysterious moves he's made with Congress during eight months in office.
The
remarkable turn of events left Republican congressional leaders, in
control of both chambers of the legislative branch, "shell-shocked" and
"visibly annoyed," and showcased how a President who also authored "The
Art of the Deal" actually cuts one.
Trump's
stunning agreement to endorse a plan proposed by Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi came during a
Wednesday morning meeting with leaders from both parties in the Oval
Office, the first such meeting of Trump's presidency.
Several
Republicans briefed on the meeting said that Trump, who has been absent
a major legislative achievement for his first seven months in office,
was hungry for a deal. It also came after he was warned of a packed
legislative calendar that could have pushed off tax reform past this
fall.
"The President was in deal-cutting mode," a Republican familiar with the meeting told CNN. "He was sick of this fight."
Went against his own Treasury secretary
In
Wednesday's session, Republican leaders -- including House Speaker Paul
Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- first pushed lifting
the debt ceiling for 18 months. With no agreement at hand, they
decreased the timeframe to a year, before finally proposing a six-month
extension.
Democratic leaders
dismissed all of their proposals, standing firm by their three-month
extension plan, which they had publicly endorsed in a joint statement
before the meeting.
A source
briefed on the meeting said the top Hill Republicans -- McConnell and
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy -- and Trump's own Treasury
secretary, Steven Mnuchin, echoed Ryan's concerns about such a debt
limit and warned against problems caused by a shorter-term solution.
According
to one source familiar with the events, Mnuchin was in the middle of
arguing for a longer-term deal in the meeting when the President
abruptly cut him off and sided with the Democrats.
A
senior Republican source described Trump as being in "Apprentice" mode,
a reference to the reality show that made the President a TV star.
Trump just decided to listen and then make a decision on the spot, the
source told CNN.
McConnell and Ryan
were "blindsided by this," a Republican official told CNN. In fact,
hours before Trump agreed to Democrats' proposal, Ryan had publicly
called such a plan "ridiculous" during a news conference. The GOP
leaders had no heads up or warning that Trump's decision would happen,
Republican officials told CNN. Another senior GOP source described the
two leaders as "shell-shocked."
A
source familiar with the meeting said McConnell decided to throw in a
continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded through
December 15, so that the deal could all happen at once.
Interrupted by Ivanka Trump
At
some point toward the end of the meeting, the President's oldest
daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, stopped by the meeting to
specifically sell the child tax credit, according to a senior GOP
source. According to one congressional source briefed on the meeting,
some Republican leaders were "visibly annoyed" during Ivanka Trump's
appearance at the meeting, a description Ryan's spokeswoman AshLee
Strong said was untrue.
White
House legislative director Marc Short told CNN, "We asked Ivanka to
briefly join the meeting for an update on the child care tax credit and
how we are working to make tax reform a bi-partisan issue. It was a
quick and productive conversation.
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