Even as rancor reigns on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump is taking tentative steps on two issues that still offer a chance of bipartisan success: infrastructure and prescription drugs.
The hurdles remain steep for Trump. Democrats say they’ve seen few signs that he’s ready to act on campaign promises that would require bucking congressional GOP leaders — or that he can work with his critics on ideas where they might align.
But two liberals who’ve been critical of the president, Reps. Elijah Cummings and Peter Welch, left a White House meeting on curbing drug prices Wednesday feeling good about their chances for buy-in from Trump. Democratic lawmakers also are holding out modest hopes that he might meet in the middle on infrastructure investment, which was the focus of a lunch meeting Wednesday.
Welch told POLITICO that he reminded Trump that, like many in the GOP, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price — a former House Republican who was also in the room — “has always had some significant reservations” about allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
“The president seemed undeterred by that,” the Vermont Democrat said.
Cummings also called Trump “enthusiastic and clearly aware of the problem” of pricey prescription drugs after the meeting, at which the two Democrats told Trump they plan to introduce legislation on the issue within weeks.
Trump appeared to hint at a reversal of his campaign-trail support for federal price negotiation last month following a sit-down with pharmaceutical executives, but White House press secretary Sean Spicer later told reporters that the president’s stance was unchanged.
“The politics of this ultimately would be good for everybody,” Welch said, despite the Democratic base’s mistrust of and frustration over Trump’s broader agenda.
The politics of an infrastructure deal also hold promise for both parties — if they can bridge the yawning gap between the still-undefined White House proposal, which revolves around tax credits, and Democrats’ plan for direct government spending.
Trump held a Wednesday lunch on infrastructure with Vice President Mike Pence, three Cabinet secretaries, and an array of stakeholders that included Lynn Scarlett, a managing director of the Nature Conservancy and former George W. Bush administration official.
Trump’s prime targets for outreach on infrastructure — Democrats who hail from states that he won in November — are ready to listen but are raising big questions for the White House.
“I think it’s a good sign” that Trump is working on both infrastructure and lowering drug prices, said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who faces a tough reelection battle next year. But on infrastructure, he warned, “The critical question becomes: How do you pay for it?”
Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, ranking member of the crucial Environment and Public Works Committee, said that he extended Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s team an “open invitation to at least talk about this stuff, and they did not take the bait.”
Carper chalked up the lack of communication to the Trump administration being “very shorthanded, everywhere.” But he added that “if they’re serious, the idea of talking to the senior Democrat on the committee of jurisdiction” would be helpful.
The House’s senior Democrat on infrastructure issues, Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, is having better luck with the White House. DeFazio said he had “a nice chat for about half an hour” last week with the White House’s top infrastructure adviser, former Koch Industries executive D.J. Gribbin.
“I laid out my ideas and priorities and he listened politely and reflected on some of them — but no commitments,” DeFazio said in an interview, echoing Carper in his advice that Trump step up the Democratic outreach.
“If he really wants a massive investment in infrastructure that includes real money and not just pretend, then he’s going to have to work with Democrats because there’s a bunch of people here who won’t vote for it,” DeFazio said. “A bunch of Republicans.”
One of the red-state Democrats who’s already gotten ample face-time with Trump, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, praised Trump for doing “what the president should be doing, reaching out to both sides of the aisle.”
If Trump “can find an answer” on the high cost of prescription drugs, “I’m open,” Manchin added.
Many Democrats, however, remain deeply skeptical of Trump’s ability to work with them, even on issues where his brand of populism aligns with their agenda.
"While he simultaneously criticizes the future of our country’s infrastructure, he wants to gut the very agencies that help address these vast needs," Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Appropriations Committee's top Democrat, said at a hearing on infrastructure Wednesday.
The liberal grassroots is even more wary of any deal with Trump. For activists who are increasingly shaping the Democratic agenda, the president's controversial travel ban and draconian budget cuts represent proof that he’s not serious about bipartisanship on prescription drugs or fixing roads and bridges.
"That ship was never in the dock" to sail on a partnership between Trump and Democrats, said Murshed Zaheed, who worked for former Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and is now political director for the liberal group CREDO Action. "We have a person in charge who has no regard for our government and how it works, and no regard for how lawmakers make policy."
Heather Caygle contributed to this report.