This week: GOP lawmakers reckon with Trump

House and Senate Republicans will return to Washington this week for the first time since Donald Trump became their party’s presumptive nominee for president. 

GOP lawmakers who avoided answering questions about whether they’ll support Trump while both chambers were out on recess last week will now have a harder time avoiding reporters in the Capitol.

A media circus is all but certain to ensue when Trump treks to Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. The real estate billionaire will also meet with members of the House GOP leadership at the RNC’s headquarters down the street from the Capitol.

{mosads}Priebus pledged that he’ll try to bridge the tension between Trump and the Speaker, who stunned the political world last week when he said was “not ready” to endorse the presumptive nominee even as his Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), did so. Trump, meanwhile, is standing by his campaign message that propelled him through the crowded GOP presidential primary.  

Asked if McConnell would meet with Trump in the Capitol or invite him to meet with Senate GOP leadership, the Republican leader’s office said they had no announcements to make. 

And in a break from usual tradition, an appearance from the presumptive nominee before the full House GOP conference is not slated either, at least for now.

Republicans are all over the map when it comes to how they’re handling the impending reality of sharing a ballot in November with Trump. 

Some vulnerable GOP lawmakers like Reps. Barbara Comstock (Va.), Mike Coffman (Colo.) and John Katko (N.Y.) are sharing a refrain that Trump needs to “earn my vote” before they can support him. Other Republicans, like Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.) and Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.), declared they won’t vote for Trump or Clinton in November.

Still others have come out and endorsed Trump, such as House Administration Committee Chairwoman Candice Miller (R-Mich.) and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.). While vulnerable Republicans like Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) have said they will support Trump as the likely nominee, they’ve also tried to draw a line between supporting him and endorsing him. 

Trump’s meeting with House leadership comes as his former rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will return to the Senate this week after dropping out of the race. 

It will mark the first time Cruz has taken a roll call vote in months. 

Opioid crisis

Amid the Trump spectacle, the House is expected to consider multiple bills this week to help address the rise of prescription drug abuse.

It’s one of the few policy areas where there is a realistic shot of bills becoming law before the end of this year. The Senate overwhelmingly approved comprehensive bipartisan legislation in March that authorizes funding for programs to treat addiction and increase the availability of a drug to prevent overdoses. 

One of the measures under consideration would establish an inter-agency task force to review best practices for prescribing medication, while another would authorize more than $100 million in federal grants for addiction treatment programs.

Democrats are urging the GOP to approve as much as $600 million in new funding for addiction treatment programs as part of the legislative package. 

The bills slated for approval in the House this week are expected to be merged into one package to facilitate conference negotiations with the Senate. 

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who faces a tough reelection this year in a swing state, has been urging the House to take up the legislation that bears his name. But the House is opting to pass several individual bills in part so that additional members can also take credit on the issue.

Appropriations

The Senate will take a third shot at moving forward with an energy and water appropriations bill as they try to save the stalled legislation. 

Democrats are currently blocking the measure over an amendment from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that would prevent the government from purchasing Iran’s heavy water, which can be used for nuclear reactors. 

Cotton’s proposal isn’t currently scheduled to get a vote, but Democrats are warning that its inclusion would lead to President Obama vetoing the bill. 

“The administration made it clear they will veto the bill over this, and we know that it’s politically charged,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters before lawmakers left for the week-long recess. 

Senators are scheduled to take the procedural vote on Monday evening. If every Republican supports moving forward with the legislation, McConnell will still need 60 votes to overcome the hurdle. 

So far Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Robert Menendez (N.J.) have backed the legislation despite Cotton’s amendment. 

Republicans have defended the freshman senator, accusing Democrats of threatening to derail the appropriations process. 

“They couldn’t wait a single week before throwing an obstructionist wrench into the appropriations process they claim to want,” McConnell said late last month.

He’s repeatedly said that passing the 12 individual appropriations bills is his top goal for 2016. 

The House, meanwhile, can’t start floor consideration of appropriations bills until May 15 without passing a budget first.

Puerto Rico

House Republicans are aiming to introduce revised legislation this week to help Puerto Rico with its debt crisis after the island nation defaulted while Congress was out on recess last week.

After missing an original deadline for action by the end of March, lawmakers are now hoping to move legislation by July 1.

Any new legislation unveiled after the House returns on Tuesday would be expected to adhere to the framework of original legislation that subjects Puerto Rico’s finances to an outside control board. The bill, which is currently stalled at the committee level, also allows Puerto Rico to restructure its $70 billion in debt.

GOP leaders are hoping that Puerto Rico defaulting on most of the $422 million payment due last week will add momentum to advancing the legislation. Puerto Rico officials warn that it will default on about $2 billion in payments due July 1 if Congress doesn’t act.

– Peter Schroeder and Peter Sullivan contributed.