Susie Wiles went to the Hill to break the Senate logjam.
Republicans have not passed President Donald Trump’s beloved SAVE America Act. They’ve protected his nemesis, the Senate filibuster. A third budget package hasn't moved. And two Senate Republicans are effectively blocking the confirmation of his attorney general pick.
So Trump’s chief of staff made a rare visit to Capitol Hill Wednesday to huddle privately with top Senate Republicans to unlock the president’s agenda, amid brewing tensions between Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune and as the midterms loom.
“This was her attempt to say to Thune and [Senate GOP Whip John] Barrasso [that] ‘A lot is stalled in the Senate. SAVE/reconciliation.. nominations.. what can we do?” a person familiar with the private discussion said via text. The person, like others in this report, was granted anonymity to describe it.
The conversations were described by a second person as “candid,” but no breakthrough appeared imminent.
“Thune basically said: I want to move the president’s agenda whenever it has the votes,” the first person said.
Thune has repeatedly said publicly that he doesn’t have the votes to kill the filibuster or pass the SAVE America Act — the partisan elections bill Trump is pushing for.
The account of Wiles' visit was confirmed by a third person familiar with the meeting. A fourth person familiar with the meeting said it was about reconciliation, the SAVE America Act and the filibuster, among other topics, adding that nominees were not a focus of the meeting. The person pointed to the Senate's overwhelming record of approving the president's picks, even as Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general hung in the balance Thursday evening.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of the senators holding up Blanche’s nomination, said he was told by Thune that the meeting was about the reconciliation bill, not Blanche.
The second person added that Wiles and the GOP leaders also addressed the upcoming midterm elections, as well as “relationship building” between the White House and Senate Republicans.
As Trump’s patience with Thune wears thin, Wiles’ visit to the Hill represented an effort to keep negotiations moving and prevent political fights from derailing the White House's broader agenda.
“You can't show how high the importance of this issue is to the president other than bringing in Susie,” a former Trump adviser said. “If there is an ability to land it, the president is certainly putting pressure on Susie to land it. It's still an uphill battle.”
Wiles exited Thune’s office on Wednesday, alongside legislative affairs director James Braid. She declined to answer questions about the meeting as she left. She also met separately with Barrasso.
“Members of the Administration regularly meet with Congress to advance President Trump’s agenda and key legislative priorities,” a White House official said when asked about the purpose of the meetings.
Wiles and Thune’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment and Barrasso’s office declined to comment.
The outcome of the meetings likely won’t be clear until next week, as the Senate tries to wrap up an ambitious agenda before leaving town for its August recess.
People close to Wiles describe her as a strategist by nature, who won’t let the perfect be the enemy of the possible.
“While the president remains focused on the one issue [the SAVE America Act] creating a major bottleneck, she will be instrumental in getting the rest of the administration’s agenda moving again,” said a person close with the White House.
Wiles’ visit came hours before Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) postponed Blanche’s nomination to be Trump’s top law enforcement chief. On Thursday, Trump announced he would shelve Blanche’s nomination until next year when Cornyn and another Republican holdout, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), are out of office.
It’s not the only piece of the president’s agenda sitting in Senate purgatory. The House last week passed the latest budget framework to begin drafting a third reconciliation bill. The framework included $10 billion to incentivize states to adopt portions of the SAVE America Act, which is the president’s No. 1 domestic priority.
The effort faces long odds in the Senate because parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough previously ruled the SAVE America Act does not comply with Senate rules to include in a reconciliation package, which allows the Senate to move legislation with a simple majority rather than needing 60 votes.
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