Chuck and Nancy’s rematch

‘I hope he has learned his lesson’: Chuck and Nancy’s rematch with Trump

The Democratic leaders see if they can find common ground with the president.

By HEATHER CAYGLE and BURGESS EVERETT

The last time Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer met with Donald Trump it was an unequivocal disaster, culminating in the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Now, more than four months later, the Democratic leaders and Trump say they are seeking a reset with a big infrastructure bill. But it’s more than just the future of America’s bridges and roads at stake — the White House meeting Tuesday morning is likely to reveal whether anything at all can get done in Washington over the next 18 months.

Cooperation will not be easy. A bipartisan disaster aid bill has stalled over Trump’s resistance to giving Puerto Rico more relief. Both parties talk a big game about bringing down prescription drug prices but aren’t anywhere near a deal. And a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure package would require tax increases or other painful compromises.

“Isn’t that ironic? We’re talking about an infrastructure bill of construction for generations to come in the future and we can’t solve the current disaster bill, which is something that needs to be funded now,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said.

Trump and House Democrats, meanwhile, are engaged in a bitter constitutional clash over the sprawling investigations into the president, his administration and his personal finances. Democratic leaders are also weighing how harshly to condemn Trump — including the possibility of impeachment — after special counsel Robert Mueller presented damning evidence that the president repeatedly attempted to obstruct the Russia probe.

Democrats head into the meeting with hopes of accomplishing two goals, according to an aide. First, they want to demonstrate their ability to work across party lines even as they investigate Trump. And leadership wants to allow House members, particularly Democrats in swing districts, to pursue legislation that isn’t destined for the graveyard of the GOP-led Senate.

Democrats are also preparing for an unpredictable Trump. The president surprised them in December by allowing television cameras to roll during the entire meeting, capturing a dramatic tit for tat between the House speaker, Senate minority leader and president over Trump’s proposed wall on the southern border.

“I hope he has learned his lesson” after televising that meeting, Pelosi said in a leadership huddle Monday night, according to a source in the room.

Democrats are unsure whether Tuesday’s gathering will be open to the cameras and huddled Monday night to strategize ahead of their meeting with the president. Pelosi and Schumer will also be accompanied by several senior House and Senate Democrats who will have a say in any infrastructure deal.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said “everybody loves infrastructure in the abstract” but that paying for such a bill is always a challenge.

Even if the policy details were simpler a bipartisan Rose Garden signing ceremony seems far off. Pelosi and Schumer laid out a series of hefty of demands Monday in a move that could blow up the talks before they even begin. Democrats say Trump must consider rolling back some of the 2017 Republican tax cuts — his signature legislative accomplishment — to pay for new investments.

“Working people shouldn’t take another big financial hit in order to be able to get to work,” Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said. “Particularly not when the big multinational companies, which are causing most of the wear and tear to the infrastructure, got all these big tax breaks.”

The White House meeting is the first since the blow-up over government funding in January and one of a handful of times Pelosi and Trump have been in the same room since she reclaimed the speaker's gavel. Since then, she’s repeatedly challenged Trump amid growing partisan recriminations.

Both sides publicly insist they’re eager to reach a deal on a major piece of legislation before the 2020 campaign consumes Washington next year and grinds Congress to a halt.

“We’ll have to hold hands and jump together,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of a big infrastructure package. “As long as everybody views it as a collective win, I think it will be doable.”

Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said in an interview that both sides recognize they need each other to get a major deal done and that that could override bad feelings over the House investigations.

“Obviously he can’t get infrastructure on his own. We can’t get it done on our own,” Hoyer said after a Democratic leadership meeting Monday night. “And therefore, if we’re going to get it done, we need to sit down and talk.”

The politics of a bipartisan infrastructure deal are complicated. House Democratic leaders might be eager to help their vulnerable freshmen notch a win. But they may be reluctant to do the same for Trump as he gears up for reelection.

The subject is already taking on a partisan sheen, and the two parties start far apart.

In their letter to Trump, Pelosi and Schumer said any deal would have to fulfill several Democratic priorities — including how to come up with potentially trillions of dollars in federal funding, an issue that has vexed leaders of both parties for decades.

Trump and Senate Republicans are unlikely to agree to renegotiate their tax law, leaving it unclear how to pay for any bipartisan infrastructure bill. Lawmakers have refused to raise the gas tax to fund the nation’s highways and transit systems since it was last increased more than 25 years ago.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the meeting a “good first step" on Monday but declined to say what, if anything, Trump would propose to Democrats.

“Certainly, it is a big step that both sides who, frankly, had a lot of hostility toward one another over the last couple months are sitting down at the table and discussing an issue that has to be addressed,” she told reporters.

The meeting comes after Pelosi requested it in a phone call the first week of April. Trump and Pelosi have not spoken since that phone call, according to the White House.

Sanders also suggested that Trump could dive into another thorny issue that has repeatedly divided the two parties: immigration.

There are no plans for Trump to discuss the Mueller report or the House’s investigations, but Trump has repeatedly railed against Democrats for “presidential harassment.”

If challenged, Pelosi would almost certainly stand firm against Trump. House Democrats are moving forward on an array of probes into the president, simultaneously threatening to damage Trump’s presidency while vowing they can work with him on areas of agreement.

House Democrats are expected to hear from Attorney General William Barr this week on his handling of the Mueller report, assuming he shows up, as well as a former top official on potential security clearance abuses inside the administration. House Democrats have repeatedly sparred with top administration officials over the parameters of such hearings and their refusal to testify or provide documents.

Senate Democrats will press Barr at a hearing on Wednesday.

Asked about Trump’s relationship with Democrats ahead of the infrastructure meeting, Durbin wasn’t sure where to start: “The state of it? Adversarial in many aspects.”

Trump “never calls, you know?” Durbin added. “I know he has my number.”