DORAL, Fla. — Kicking off three days of meetings at his resort in Doral, Florida, President Donald Trump regaled House Republicans on Monday with a rhetorical highlight reel from his first week in office, and he urged them to support his immigration crackdown and border security proposals.

"Throughout the week, the heroes of ICE have been hunting down and arresting hundreds of illegal alien criminals per day," Trump said, referring to the daily operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. "We're tracking down the illegal alien criminals, we're detaining them, and we are throwing them the hell out of our country. We have no apologies and we're moving forward very fast."


What You Need To Know

  • House Republicans kicked off three days of meetings with President Donald Trump at his hotel in Doral, Florida, Monday

  • President Donald Trump boasted about his first week in office as he rallied House Republicans to advance tax cuts, border security and other conservative priorities
  • House Republicans are anxious to get on the same page with their plans, knowing they have limited time with their political power at its peak
  • They want to find consensus on a spending bill before a March 14 deadline and on a separate budget blueprint that would set the stage for passing their sweeping agenda

“I really focus on the border more than anything else," he said, downplaying the importance of inflation, an issue that fueled his candidacy last year but one that he has less control over as president.

Speaking at the House Republicans' annual policy retreat, Trump made clear his political ambitions as he rallied lawmakers to advance their conservative agenda.

“We're forging a new political majority that's shattering and replacing Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal coalition, which dominated American politics for over 100 years," he said.

The conference is being held at Trump National Doral Miami, a posh resort with four golf courses owned by the billionaire president. Although Republicans are euphoric over election victories that have given them total control in Washington, they're also facing difficult negotiations in the coming weeks and months.

They need to find consensus on a spending bill before a March 14 deadline, when funding for the federal government expires.

In addition, Republicans are working on a budget blueprint that would set the stage for their broader plans, including tax cuts, fossil fuel development and border security. With thin majorities in the House and Senate, they will need near-unanimity to pass their proposals without Democratic support.

Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, set the first week of February for the House Budget Committee to pass the blueprint that is key to the entire process.

“We are going to make America safe and secure again,” Johnson said earlier in the day. “Congress will have no daylight between us and the White House on that issue.”

He said House Republicans fully supported Trump’s decision to tariff Colombia over its refusal to accept flights of undocumented Colombian nationals from the U.S. over the weekend. Even though Colombia has since agreed to accept the flights, Johnson said Congress is prepared to act with sanctions and other measures to back up the president’s America-first agenda.

Johnson said he does not expect Trump’s proposed tariffs to be imposed across the board or entire industries. 

“We’re free-trade advocates, but as the president often reminds all of us, it has to be free and fair trade. And we simply don’t have that with some of the people, allies and adversaries around the world. President Trump will be the great equalizer on that,” Johnson said, using China as an example of a country that poses serious threats to the U.S. economy and national security.

Political capital is almost always at its peak at the start of a new presidential term, even more so because this is Trump’s second and he is prevented under the Constitution from a third.

However, that didn't stop Trump from joking Monday about running again.

“I think I’m not allowed to run again," Trump said as he turned to Johnson. "Am I allowed to run again, Mike?”

Johnson is trying to lump many of the Republican priorities into one massive catch-all bill that Senate Democrats cannot filibuster, but many Republican senators think it would be better to do two bills — the first focused on border security and defense, and the second on extending and expanding upon the tax cuts passed in Trump's first term.

"Whether it’s one bill, two bills, I don’t care," Trump said in Doral.

Republicans are also eyeing potential changes to key safety net programs, such as work requirements for those participating in Medicaid, to help offset the cost of enacting their priorities. Trump has pushed expensive ideas like exempting tipped wages and Social Security checks from income taxes.

House Republicans said they expect more specifics to be announced after the retreat in Doral.

One item Johnson expects to discuss with Trump is the president’s call for California to enact a voter identification law for federal disaster relief aid, three weeks after a series of wildfires broke out in the Los Angeles area, killing 28 and destroying over 16,000 structures.

“Election security in California and voter ID is a matter that comports with common sense,” he said, adding that Congress intends to advance legislation on the issue.

“There’s been a lot of frustration over the last four years with how FEMA has been handled, and I think the president is right to assess that,” Johnson said in response to a question about whether he agreed with an idea Trump suggested during his visits to North Carolina and California last week that FEMA be eradicated and states do more to aid with disaster relief and recovery.

“I have some expertise with FEMA from Louisiana,” Johnson said. “We’re a disaster-prone state, as is Florida. In my experience, it is very often the case that local workers through FEMA do a pretty good job. Often it’s the leadership at the top that can affect the outcome of how a disaster is handled.”

He said the task force Trump established in his executive order to examine a FEMA overhaul is “an appropriate step” that House Republicans support “100%.”

Johnson also defended Trump’s firing of at least a dozen inspectors general on Friday night, saying it represented a “fresh start” for “some new eyes, new voices.”

One of Trump’s parting admonitions to lawmakers in the room was to stick together because “we have a chance to win like never before.”

“There’s nothing we cannot achieve as long as the Republican Party remains united. I hope you can remain united,” Trump said.