The three-day retreat, held in Miami, was the second year in a row House Republicans gathered to debate and strategize with Majority Leader Mike Johnson.
This year, however, Republicans currently hold only a one-seat majority over Democrats with some polls predicting Democrat wins – and a new majority leader – after Election Day.
In the 435-seat House, Republicans currently hold a 218-213 majority but are doing so with four vacancies. All of those congressional seats are up for election in November.
Midterm elections traditionally help the political power that is not in the White House, sort of a voters’ revolt against the party in power.
At Real Clear Politics, the generic congressional vote is predicting such a win for Democrats. It currently shows a 4.7% advantage for that party after RCP averaged numbers from 12 polls.
In other RCP polling, the favorability rating for the Republican Party is currently -14% and -20% for the Democratic Party. Those figures make President Trump look good in comparison since his favorability rating is -12%.
“Republicans are focused on cutting taxes, making America safe, and making sure our government functions,” Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), who attended the retreat, told the“Washington Watch" program.
Seeming to acknowledge the critical midterms, Fine said the Republican Party needs to “hammer” that message “over and over and over again.”
What does the GOP lawmaker believe the Democratic Party stands for?
“I think one of the things that's very clear is Democrats' priorities are protecting terrorists, protecting criminal illegal immigrants, and protecting Somali pirates,” Fine told show host Tony Perkins.
A related Scripps News story about the GOP retreat said Republicans were enjoying a larger majority last year at their first retreat. That political meeting centered around using reconciliation, a controversial procedural move, to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that had been supported by President Trump.
That legislation passed in the House 218-214 in a final vote last July, and President Trump signed it into law on July 4.
During the “Washington Watch” interview, Perkins pointed out there is political talk of a second reconciliation package coming in the House.
“But it sounds like that now is no longer on the table,” Perkins said.
“No, no, I wouldn’t say that,” Fine replied. “The speaker absolutely made clear, and I don't think I'm betraying confidence in saying, that he would like to do a second reconciliation.”
The congressman said some of his colleagues got “quite animated” when that topic was discussed, meaning they support it, in order to advance GOP bills in the House.
“So that's absolutely on the table,” Fine shared.
According to the Scripps story, Republican lawmakers at the retreat were split on whether to move forward with a second reconciliation deal in coming weeks and months.
