WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump made his way to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to sit down with Republican senators who have become increasingly fed up with his push to redirect their legislative priorities.
It marked Trump’s first appearance at a closed-door Senate GOP luncheon in over a year. For months, he has pressured senators to prioritize his proof-of-citizenship voting legislation — despite the fact that it lacks the votes needed to pass. At the same time, he has prevented them from confirming one of his own nominees, asked them to help pay for renovations to a White House ballroom even though many oppose it, and put them in the position of defending his Iran war while they privately question where it’s headed.
Trump has also chipped away at his own Senate support by backing primary challengers against two previously loyal Republican incumbents — Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy. Both lost their primaries and have since become more openly critical of the president.
Even so, senators said before the meeting that they wanted to focus on finding common ground rather than airing grievances.
“If we’re going to win the midterm elections, we need to get on the same page,” Cornyn said Tuesday. “We’re not on the same page now, and that I think is dangerous.”
It remained unclear whether Trump’s visit could iron out the differences — or whether senators who have been speaking out more frequently would raise their concerns face to face.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said he has already made many of his complaints known to the administration, and said he was hoping Wednesday’s meeting would be “conciliatory.”
“That would be a big win for us tomorrow,” Tillis said Tuesday.
Adding another layer of friction is the increasingly strained relationship between Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota. While Thune remains well-regarded within his conference and maintains a civil relationship with the president, he has frequently been the one delivering unwelcome news to Trump.
Thune said Tuesday that while Trump and some senators want to see the voting bill move forward, “it’s just not realistic.”
Trump has been pushing the Senate to get rid of the filibuster — a procedural rule that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation — and pass the bill known as the SAVE America Act. The measure would impose strict new requirements for voters to prove citizenship and present voter ID at the polls. Trump has also called on senators to add a ban on mail-in ballots, along with unrelated provisions addressing sex reassignment surgeries on certain minors and barring people born as men from competing in women’s sports.
“John is a leader and hopefully he can get the votes,” Trump said Tuesday during a trip to Pennsylvania, putting fresh pressure on Thune.
Thune has spent weeks bringing the voting bill to the Senate floor and says he supports it. But he has consistently maintained that there are not enough votes to eliminate the filibuster in a chamber where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority — and where Democrats are unanimously opposed to the bill.
“Those are just hard realities,” Thune said. “And I think people at some point have to come to grips with that.”
Thune said he hopes the gathering serves as a chance for Republicans to “sit down as a family” and map out their priorities before the next election.
He also revealed that he only learned Trump was attending the luncheon after Florida Sen. Rick Scott extended the invitation without informing him first — an unusual move that some see as a sign of internal tension. Scott, a close Trump ally, hosts the Wednesday Senate Republican lunch each week.
Scott, who ran against Thune for the leadership position two years ago, said Trump agreed to come “on the spot” when invited.
“He’s going to be very positive,” Scott said. “There’s a lot that we can brag about that we’ve accomplished, and he wants to figure out how we can win November and continue to fulfill his agenda.”
On Monday, Scott sent a letter to his Republican colleagues urging the Senate to hold weekly votes on the SAVE America Act and other GOP priorities that Democrats oppose.
“We need to show voters that we are listening to them and will fight for their priorities whether any Democrats vote with us or not,” Scott wrote.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee has also been pressing Thune on the issue, posting daily on the social media platform X about why Republicans should eliminate the filibuster and pass the bill. Several Republican senators, including Cornyn, confronted Lee at a private lunch last week, saying his posts are splitting the party and setting expectations that can’t be met.
Lee has also repeated Trump’s assertion that Republicans cannot win elections without the bill passing — even though the party achieved broad victories in 2024. Trump has continued to falsely claim that the 2020 election, which he lost, was stolen.
“The push to pass the SAVE America Act is not a ‘fantasy,’” Lee posted over the weekend. “It’s a plan to avoid a nightmare — one that’s coming soon unless we act.”
Thune said Tuesday that Lee is free to post on social media, but added, “at the end of the day, I have a different reality. And sometimes the alternative universe that is X doesn’t reflect the facts on the ground.”
Trump may also face questions about his decision last week to delay the nomination of Jay Clayton to serve as national intelligence director. Republican leaders had hoped to move quickly to confirm Clayton and sidestep Trump’s controversial interim pick, Bill Pulte, who has no publicly known background in intelligence.
In that same social media post, Trump said he would refuse to sign a renewal of a key surveillance law unless Senate Republicans attach the SAVE America Act to it. That stance has found some support in the House, where 25 Republicans have pledged to vote against all legislation until the voting bill advances.
Senators may also use the meeting to press Trump on the war with Iran and the agreement reached to end it — details that most lawmakers have still not been briefed on.
Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said there are many unanswered questions about the Iran deal, but acknowledged that Trump may not be able to speak openly about ongoing negotiations.
“We’re there to listen” and to help make sure the rest of Trump’s term is a success, Rounds said — but that requires “a united team.”
