Tariffs, refugees and a border wall will feed postelection suspense
Both congressional judiciary committee chairmen openly lectured the White House this week that they must by law be consulted on any move to slash the number of refugees the United States admits next year.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had just announced a sharp reduction in fiscal 2019 to 30,000 from 45,000. The Senate chairman, Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) responded: "Congress should take action to ensure the required discussions occur in the future."
"The Trump Administration has no excuse for not complying with their obligation under the law,” added Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), House judiciary chairman.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert replied diplomatically that the legislative houses will be consulted, and said "the number that was announced . . . may not be the final number.”
Refugee policy represents only one fault line between the branches.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump carped about the GOP-controlled Congress. “I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms?” the president tweeted.
The latest clashes elicit a key question: Are the House and Senate merely waiting until after the November election to advance Trump's more controversial priorities? Or will Republican leaders on Capitol Hill dig in and resist him further once the season changes?
Of course, the answer depends largely on whether voters nationally will make the GOP a majority in Congress again.
Make no assumptions about the likelihood of a "blue wave." Nobody can be sure how the results in hundreds of jurisdictions around the country will add up.
A majority of the GOP majority has never indicated clear support for Trump's wall. Nor have the houses acted together in many years on a comprehensive immigration policy, which is why both Trump and predecessor Barack Obama used executive orders to push policies.
Tariffs also pose charged issues for the president and Congress that will produce local winners and losers.
It was announced this week that a television assembly company, Element Electronics of Winnsboro, South Carolina, won a special waiver from import taxes on flat screens made in China.
This has led the firm to reverse its previously announced decision to close its plant, with more than 130 employees, according to CNBC. It did not go unnoticed that the firm is based in the Congressional district that current budget director Mick Mulvaney represented.
Trump last month publicly attacked the industrialist Koch brothers, who are "free-trade" advocates opposed to war-by-tariff and big supporters of GOP Congressional campaigns.
Given the track record of the players, some internal Republican tensions can be expected to last past November. Their impact is the most crucial unknown.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
