President Donald Trump Wednesday will come face-to-face with Senate Republicans for the first time in months as the party struggles to set its priorities heading into the midterms.<\/p>\n

After weeks of shadowboxing with each other, Trump is scheduled to visit Capitol Hill and press the conference to pass his signature election security bill that has languished for months. Senate Republicans \u2014 several of whom have openly agonized that Trump isn\u2019t focused enough on helping their party keep its tenuous control of Congress \u2014 have their own agenda for talks.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear: Wednesday\u2019s lunch isn\u2019t going to change the fate of the GOP election bill. Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Tuesday that \u201cpeople at some point have to come to grips\u201d with the fact that there aren\u2019t the votes to nix the filibuster or pass Trump\u2019s No. 1 priority.<\/p>\n

But Trump is showing no sign of being ready to accept that \u2014 and indicated he intends to make the case for doing whatever it takes during the lunch with Senate Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just going to talk about SAVE America. \u2026 We have to pass it so we\u2019re going to have to talk about that and many other things,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n

Asked about Thune saying the party lacks the votes for passage, he added: \u201cThat\u2019s what being a leader is about. … John is a leader and hopefully he can get the votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Trump wants to focus on the SAVE America Act, GOP senators expect a wider-ranging conversation, including how both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue can turn their collective attention off of a string of recent intraparty fights<\/a> and toward Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy question is how do we get all on the same page and get unified rather than squabbling amongst ourselves,\u201d Sen. John Cornyn said he\u2019ll ask Trump. Cornyn told reporters it\u2019ll be his first time speaking with the president since losing his primary against Trump-backed Ken Paxton.<\/p>\n

That may mean Trump and senators Wednesday confront festering questions about the highly unpopular Iran war in the lead up to elections.<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans openly criticized<\/a> Trump\u2019s agreement last week to end the Iran conflict, including a $300 billion reconstruction fund. And congressional Republicans are chafing at the idea<\/a> Trump is asking for tens of billions of dollars in fresh military funding without briefing most of Congress<\/a> on the plan.<\/p>\n

As lawmakers prepare for a roughly $80 billion emergency Pentagon funding request to land as soon as this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is also set to meet\u00a0<\/a>with the Republican Study Committee Wednesday. While the briefing is meant to focus on the funding requests, Speaker Mike Johnson suggested it could be lawmakers\u2019 only chance for the time being to get questions answered about the administration\u2019s Iran endgame.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019ll provide a lot of information,\u201d Johnson said when asked about further briefings beyond Hegseth\u2019s. \u201cI mean, we\u2019ll see what the secretary does, and then evaluate after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on our radar Wednesday: Democratic lawmakers are teeing up a host<\/a> of amendments on the war against Iran at a House Appropriations markup of the fiscal 2027 Defense bill, where more funding talks are guaranteed to take place.<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY SPLIT SCREEN:<\/b> A Zohran Mamdani-backed trio of progressives pulled off a string of upsets<\/a> during New York\u2019s primary elections Tuesday, dealing a blow to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership allies.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014- HOUSE GOP HUDDLES ON RECON 3.0: <\/b>Johnson and key House Republicans will meet Wednesday to discuss the next steps for a possible third reconciliation bill as the clock ticks to get a budget resolution moving before the July 4 recess. The speaker said he will know more about the timing for any budget resolution to kick off another party-line bill afterwards. Still, several Budget Committee Republicans are still skeptical the effort will actually gain momentum.<\/p>\n

Madison Fernandez and Nick Reisman<\/i> contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"