No Shortage of Agenda Items for GOP Retreat

House and Senate Republicans head to West Virginia on Wednesday for the annual GOP retreat, leaving Washington even as high-profile negotiations on immigration and government funding remain unresolved.

While those topics are expected to come up during the gathering at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, they could take a back seat to other agenda items such as infrastructure, defense and workforce development.

Another topic looming over the retreat will be a 2018 midterm election cycle that could spell trouble for the Republican majorities in each chamber. With less than one guaranteed year left of full control of Congress and the White House, House and Senate members will be discussing how to maximize their time. That conversation could expose the divide between the two chambers over what legislation should take priority this year.

“These retreats are helpful in helping members in both the House and Senate understand what the limitations are in the other body. The House guys probably need to hear from Senate leaders just how challenging it is going to be to get to 60 votes for some of the things they want to do,” Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune of South Dakota said.

Many House Republicans say they’re ready to push for major changes to welfare programs and to revisit dismantling the 2010 health care law. Senate Republicans, who narrowly control the chamber with 51 members, don’t see many paths for such measures, even if they were to use the budget reconciliation process that allows passage with only majority support.

“We can’t accept the Senate’s answer that they don’t have the votes to do anything, because people back home are hurting,” Rep. Richard Hudson said.

The North Carolina Republican said the joint retreats haven’t been sparring matches and there’s no reason this year’s needs to be feisty, “but we ought to have a good healthy discussion.”

Rep. Rob Woodall said he’s optimistic there will be less “fussing” and more developing a shared agenda. As with the tax overhaul, the House and Senate don’t need to have the exact same vision. They just need to be willing to work together, the Georgia Republican said.

“I’m sure we have different understandings of what our body can do, where the center is [for] both of our groups, but this will be the first time as institutions we’ve sat down together in 2018, and it’s going to matter,” Woodall said.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan wanted to pursue overhauling entitlement programs in 2018, but the Senate and White House weren’t fully on board.

Watch the State of the Union in 3 Minutes

Ryan sees such efforts as a way to lift people out of poverty and as a natural extension of the GOP’s new tax law.

The retreat session on the topic will be focused on “workforce development,” such as creating work requirements for entitlement programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, said House Agriculture Chairman K. Michael Conaway of Texas, who is leading the discussion.