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It was no surprise to Jeff Van Drew that one of President Donald Trump’s early second-term executive orders halted offshore wind initiatives along the Jersey Shore.
That’s because the New Jersey Republican congressman has repeatedly raised the issue with Trump, both in person and during phone calls that Van Drew said they conduct on a near-weekly basis.
“Heck, I get him quicker on the phone sometimes than I get some of the people that are on his staff,” the New Jersey Republican told Semafor.
Trump took quick action against Jersey Shore offshore wind, a Biden-era initiative that Van Drew opposes, after years of reinforcement. It’s a testament to how valuable face time with the president can be — an always-valuable commodity that’s increasingly priceless in Trump’s second term, with the president both unusually accessible and unpredictable in his decision-making.
That leaves lawmakers to clamor for, and often flaunt, his attention as they vie for clout and policymaking victories. In Van Drew’s case, the effort paid off. But the competition for proximity to Trump can yield awkwardness, and even intensify internal party tension, when members fail to persuade the president to play referee.
At Sunday’s Super Bowl, for example, both House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. Lindsey Graham posted pictures with Trump — even displaying a similar thumbs-up.
Despite that display, neither the Louisianan nor the South Carolinian has won Trump’s endorsement for their competing strategies to get his border and tax agenda through the GOP-controlled Congress. Johnson’s House appeared to be a step closer to making good on its one-bill approach on Thursday after a lengthy debate in the Budget Committee.
Yet even that advance required striking a deal with the conservative Freedom Caucus that risks hurting the broader tax-cut push, and some initial holdouts still want Trump to personally intervene as the House and Senate pursue different approaches.
“It’s important for us to hear from him directly,” said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., one of a handful of Freedom Caucus members who originally opposed the budget resolution.
“Lots of it’s like this game of telephone, they’ll say what they think Trump is thinking or what he’s saying, but until you actually hear from him yourself, it could be a completely different story,” he added.
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Van Drew and Trump have stayed in touch since 2019, when Van Drew recalled the president reaching out to set up a meeting one day after he left the Democratic Party for the GOP. When they did connect for the first time, Van Drew said, it lasted 90 minutes.
Few Republican members will volunteer their frequency of contact with the president, as Van Drew did, but it’s clear that Trump keeps long hours and frequent contact. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said his calls with Trump sometimes feature intel sharing but, at other times, simply feature praise on a speech.
And the calls can come at almost any hour. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Semafor last summer that then-candidate Trump called him around 11:30 p.m. and started the conversation with: “Are you asleep?”
“President Trump is the most accessible president in history, which includes making himself available to the lawmakers who are helping further his American-first agenda,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said.
Of course, it’s impossible for Trump to personally call all 273 sitting GOP lawmakers. Not to mention that, after weeks of steering clear, he’s not likely to weigh in with a preference between the House’s one-bill track and the two-part plan that Graham is pursuing in the Senate to get his agenda done.
So the resulting hierarchy of proximity to Trump can create some animosity when members feel shut out of access that others are getting. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., for example, recently griped to Politico about being cut out of White House meetings.
“No surprise to me, because nobody ever wants to share any time with the president,” he told the outlet.
But for battleground-district Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who’s made several trips to the White House, it can feel easy to suggest a way to get in front of Trump.
“Pick up the phone and call,” Lawler said.
Kadia’s view
In the words of Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., personal contact with him is “a difference-maker.”
Still, Trump’s voluble nature can create problems for congressional leaders who are trying to unite Republicans around a way to get things done with their narrow majorities.
The more face time that rank-and-file members get with the president, the more power they can claim to command in internal debates — and that makes Johnson’s job especially tricky as Trump abstains from the House-versus-Senate budget battle.
Room for Disagreement
Not every Republican needs to be in the room all the time. Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., said he’s happy for party leaders to convey the wants and desires of the people they lead in order to avoid the “old ‘cooks in the kitchen’ kind of thing.”
One of the Freedom Caucus’ most vocal fiscal hawks, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said the speaker has relayed information back to the president to his satisfaction.
“I trust Mike to do that,” he said.
Notable
- Trump’s legislative affairs chief is in a tricky position twisting arms with the Freedom Caucus, since he’s a former aide to House conservatives, as the Washington Post reported.
- Even as the House presses ahead with its budget plan, the Senate is undaunted in its two-track approach, per Semafor’s Burgess Everett.