Consider Trumps stated intention to seek a $1 trillion dollar infrastructure package soon after taking office. At a conservative forum one week after the election, Labrador told reporters that any such bill has to be paid for with spending cuts or revenues from elsewhere, and if Trump doesnt find a way to pay for it, the majority of us, if not all of us, are going to vote against it. Otherwise, conservatives reasoned, it would be no different than the Obama stimulus package they once railed against. But their thinking has shifted in the weeks since. According to several members, there has been informal talk of accepting a bill thats only 50 percent paid for, with the rest of the borrowing being offset down the road by economic growth. Its an arrangement Republicans would never have endorsed under a President Hillary Clinton, and a slippery slope to go down with Trump.
Another example is the repeal of Obamacare. Pro-life leaders met quietly in Washington the week after Election Day and plotted to pressure Republican leaders to defund Planned Parenthood in the process of repealing the outgoing presidents signature health-care law early next year, and the idea has conservatives support. This will be a good test: Can we really defund Planned Parenthood? Jordan tells me. We have to. I mean, come on. . . . It had better happen. But congressional leaders, and Trump, who sang the groups praises during the campaign, might not want that particular fight at that particular time. If they dont, expect a showdown between social conservatives and the president they helped elect.
