President Donald Trump is huddling with House Republicans at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday to get everyone on the same page heading into a midterm election year where Democrats could potentially flip the chamber and derail the remainder of his agenda.
WHAT’S GOING ON: The daylong policy forum comes at a precarious moment for GOP leadership.
With Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation taking effect at midnight Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson is now working with a razor-thin 219-213 majority—meaning just four Republican defections can sink any party-line vote.
On the agenda: promoting their tax-and-border legislation, pushing a broader affordability message, and talking midterm strategy. Republicans are also considering a potential second tax bill while staring down a possible government shutdown at the end of the month.
THE DETAILS: The venue choice is interesting, to say the least. House Republicans picked the Kennedy Center—the same performing arts venue whose Trump-loyalist-stacked board recently voted to rename it the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
That move is currently being challenged in court, but Republicans apparently couldn’t resist the symbolic flex.
Health care is shaping up to be a major headache for the GOP. Votes on extending expired health insurance subsidies could come as soon as this week, and it remains unclear whether Trump and party leadership will try to tank it. Nothing like heading into an election year with millions of Americans worried about losing their coverage.
OF COURSE: The meeting happens in the shadow of Trump’s dramatic kidnap of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—a monthslong military campaign involving troop buildups and bombing runs on alleged drug boats (i.e. war crimes).
While House Republicans have largely cheered the effort, the operation is reigniting debates about whether Trump actually had congressional authorization to do any of it.
WHY IT MATTERS: This gathering is fundamentally about survival. Rank-and-file Republicans have grown increasingly bold about bucking Trump and leadership on issues like the Jeffrey Epstein files.
With such a thin majority, Johnson needs near-total unity to pass anything—and Trump needs a compliant House to finish implementing his agenda before Democrats potentially take the gavel in 2027.
The 2026 midterms will determine whether Trump’s final two years in office look like a continuation of GOP dominance or a legislative standstill. This meeting is the kickoff to making sure Republicans are reading from the same playbook—assuming they can agree on what that playbook actually says.