{"id":19891,"date":"2026-03-11T22:01:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T22:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/house-republicans-find-it-difficult-to-focus-on-rising-costs-as-they-plot-2026-agenda\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T22:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T22:01:41","slug":"house-republicans-find-it-difficult-to-focus-on-rising-costs-as-they-plot-2026-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/house-republicans-find-it-difficult-to-focus-on-rising-costs-as-they-plot-2026-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"House Republicans find it difficult to focus on rising costs as they plot 2026 agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

DORAL, Fla. \u2014 House Republicans arrived at their yearly policy retreat<\/a> aiming to craft a 2026 agenda that will help them keep their majority in the upcoming midterms. But they left with few specifics on what more they can do before the election to quell voter angst about higher prices.<\/p>\n

Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> told GOP members in a private session Wednesday closing out the retreat that he remains intent on pursuing a new party-line domestic policy bill to follow on last year\u2019s tax-cuts-focused megabill.<\/p>\n

While that legislation could theoretically tackle some cost-of-living issues, Johnson didn\u2019t offer any specific policies that would be included or a timeline for passing it, according to four people in the room granted anonymity to describe the private meeting. Some senior Republicans present at the meetings privately warned they don\u2019t have much time left for such a big legislative lift.<\/p>\n

Rep. Andy Harris<\/a> (R-Md.), chair of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, said he awaited party leaders\u2019 ideas for a second megabill, which would be passed through the party line reconciliation process. But he was candid about the GOP\u2019s limited legislative options before November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is that inflation is stable, gas prices are going to come down once the Iran conflict is over, we’ll deal with housing in some way,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, the American people will see the stability in inflation. They\u2019ll see the stability in energy and gas prices. And, you know, that’s probably all we’re going to be able to do before the midterms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The GOP\u2019s inability to coalesce behind an election year economic agenda is being driven in no small part by President Donald Trump, who opened the retreat by telling House Republicans<\/a> their \u201cNo. 1 priority\u201d should be passing an GOP overhaul of federal elections, with new restrictions on transgender rights tacked on.<\/p>\n

Trump all but dismissed the affordability issue, noting at one point that Americans \u201cdon\u2019t talk about housing, they don\u2019t talk about anything\u201d except for the SAVE America Act \u2014 the elections bill he\u2019s pushing the House to pass a third time.<\/p>\n

Asked about the divide between voters\u2019 top priority and the president\u2019s, Rep. Lisa McClain<\/a> of Michigan said, \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s an \u2018or.\u2019 I think it\u2019s an \u2018and.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at economic issues, that is really what is important to a lot of Americans,\u201d said McClain, the No. 4 Republican leader. \u201cIt’s pocketbook issues, right? So it’s an \u2018and\u2019 not an \u2018or.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s obsession with the elections bill \u2014 and Johnson\u2019s determination to pursue a reconciliation bill despite long odds \u2014 leaving Republicans with a tough task in addressing rising prices on everyday goods, which remain an issue of top concern<\/a> to voters.<\/p>\n

Even the new pressure on energy prices<\/a> from Trump\u2019s decision to join Israel in launching a war on Iran has yet to spur GOP lawmakers into action. Most, like Harris, simply asserted oil prices would come down soon enough.<\/p>\n

Pressed on affordability issues, Rep. Marlin Stutzman<\/a> (R-Ind.) raised the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security<\/a>, noting it\u2019s \u201cdisrupting travel\u201d and \u201cpeople\u2019s lives,\u201d as he also made the case for the Trump-backed elections bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially coming into the election, the SAVE America Act is a top priority, as well,\u201d he said. \u201cBut \u2026 pocketbook issues are what drives people to the polls. So we need to do both at once, focus on affordability, but focus on the integrity of the election.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chair of the House GOP campaign committee, Rep. Richard Hudson<\/a> of North Carolina, tried to square the two demands as he left the retreat Wednesday. Like other leaders, he raised last year\u2019s tax cuts and other bills the Republican-controlled Congress passed last year, arguing candidates have \u201clots of wins to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur entire focus as House Republicans is on average, everyday American working families,\u201d Hudson said in an interview. \u201cWe’ve delivered tax relief, a lot of other things they care about \u2014 school choice, upgraded the air traffic control system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if there\u2019s more Republicans could do to lower prices, Hudson said, \u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of other things we’d like to do,\u201d he added. \u201cWe just have to figure out if we\u2019ve got the votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole<\/a> (R-Okla.) was among several lawmakers who pointed to pending housing legislation as a major opportunity to address rising prices in a key sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there’s a program there that we can certainly advance,\u201d Cole said in an interview, mentioning the possibility of energy and transportation bills as well.<\/p>\n

But the housing bill is facing a rocky path out of Congress, despite broad bipartisan support. While a version is expected to pass the Senate as soon as this week, it now faces hurdles in the House after Harris and other members of the Freedom Caucus raised objections<\/a> to provisions dealing with the ownership of single-family homes by large companies and a possible Federal Reserve digital currency.<\/p>\n

Rep. Keith Self<\/a> (R-Texas), for instance, said in an interview that \u201csocialist policies\u201d would have to be stripped out of the bill. Several invoked the involvement of progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren<\/a> of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, who helped negotiate a Senate compromise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not as conservative a product as the House bill was,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DORAL, Fla. \u2014 House Republicans arrived at their yearly policy retreat aiming to craft a 2026 agenda that will help them keep their majority in the upcoming midterms. But they left with few specifics on what more they can do before the election to quell voter angst about higher prices. Speaker Mike Johnson told GOP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}