How The 'nicest' House Member Plans To Help Pass Trump's Agenda

In Donald Trump’s hyper-partisan, attack-dog era, House Republicans are entrusting a mild-mannered consensus-builder to drive huge parts of the president’s agenda — which may involve slashing hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid.

It’s one of many decisions Rep. Brett Guthrie will have to make as the new chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that may not be popular with broad swaths of his conference.

“He's going to face, for the first time in his political career, a hostile media,” said House Oversight and Government Reform Chair James Comer. “Special interests will come out of the woodwork to oppose any type of potential savings that he proposes.”

Comer said his fellow Kentucky Republican is the “right guy” for the job. Guthrie, a nine-term lawmaker once voted by congressional staff as the “nicest” member of the House, also said in an interview he’s well prepared.

“We have to have the facts on our side, and we have to have the policy on our side, and you have to be willing to fight for what you believe in,” Guthrie said. “I’m ready for that.”

But it's a fight that could get ugly — and in ways that might challenge Guthrie's nice-guy reputation. He will face opposition, even among some Republicans, for going after Medicaid, predicts Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee.

“They're going to have to juxtapose massive tax cuts for wealthy people, while simultaneously cutting an initiative that 71 million Americans benefit from,” Neal said of Republicans. “I'm assuming that the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] already has their ZIP code.”

The coming months will determine whether the genial Guthrie is fully prepared to navigate the obstacles necessary to deliver Trump’s campaign promises. If Guthrie falters, it could put Trump’s domestic agenda in jeopardy.

Guthrie and fellow Republicans are under intense pressure to collectively find at least $2.5 trillion in offsets to finance an extension of Trump-era tax cuts and beefed-up border enforcement through the budget reconciliation process, which allows the majority to pass legislation along party lines without having to contend with the Senate filibuster.

The Energy and Commerce Committee under Guthrie’s leadership will be at the front lines of this endeavor. The panel has under its purview some of the biggest savings up for grabs if lawmakers are willing to scale back existing federal health programs, as well as Biden-era environmental regulations and investments.

“Having the most jurisdiction in the conference also means you have the biggest responsibility in terms of things like reconciliation,” Guthrie said. “We’re looking through all of it.”

Guthrie said he’s approaching this process collaboratively, meeting in small groups across different ideological “families” within the conference to establish common ground and quell nerves. So far, he said, conversations have been productive.

“I haven’t had any group say … things are off the table,’” he said. “I’ll say, ‘Take this back, digest it. Don’t say no, don’t draw a red line. And then, if you have questions, let’s sit down together.’”

Rep. Morgan Griffith, chair of the Energy and Commerce Environment subcommittee, said Guthrie has been focused on empowering subcommittee chairs. But the Virginia Republican cautioned it won’t always be easy to build consensus from the members up, especially when it comes to reconciliation.

“We'll see how that works out,” Griffith said, “because you've got certain things you got to do, and the chairman has to make sure you do it.”

Guthrie sees inflation and rampant government spending as an existential threat and has long eyed solutions that include capping federal Medicaid payments to states based on population size. His conference is also considering making work requirements a condition of Medicaid eligibility. Each option could yield significant reconciliation savings but also increase people’s health care costs and limit coverage access.

Such policy changes also could come with significant political risks. During the GOP's unsuccessful attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, discussions about cutting Medicaid drove backlash. There’s some of that happening again already, with the Democratic-aligned group Protect Our Care pouring eight figures into a campaign against more than a dozen Republicans in vulnerable seats or with moderate leanings.

Energy and Commerce Vice Chair John Joyce of Pennsylvania said in an interview it's becoming increasingly likely that Medicaid is going on the chopping block in reconciliation, but “if there's anyone that can … bring moderates and conservatives together, it’s Brett.”

At the same time, House Republican leaders — and Trump — will ultimately be the ones who make a final call about what’s in or out of reconciliation. It could force Guthrie into another potentially awkward position: having to be a team player and rally support among his members for something they may not be thrilled about.

Guthrie insists he’s ready for that, too. When he was running for House Energy and Commerce chair, he recalled telling House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, “Your job is to count votes, and I go get them.”

Kaylee Price, Guthrie’s campaign manager and longtime political adviser, said her boss is effective at maneuvering behind the scenes, describing him as “out there doing member-by-member conversations” rather than “on Fox News.” Fellow Republican and Energy and Commerce Committee member August Pfluger of Texas said Guthrie can be “compassionate but firm.”

Guthrie’s handling of the reconciliation process will test his relationships with fellow Republicans, but could also just as crucially strain his ties with Democrats, whom he wants to work with to pass non-reconciliation legislation that comes out of the traditionally bipartisan committee.

Republicans still want to tackle an overhaul of the permitting system for energy projects, for instance, as well as legislation to strengthen data privacy protections for minors on the internet. Democratic votes will be necessary to achieve both given the GOP’s two-vote House majority.

“I’ve had a great working relationship [with Guthrie] for many years,” said Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado, a senior Democrat on the committee. “But let's see what happens once the committee really gets going — if he feels like he's going to have to be the water-carrier for Donald Trump or if he's going to actually work with all of us.”