With GOP sweep, Trump team eyes more ambitious agenda
His presidential transition team is building out a far more ambitious agenda 24 hours after the businessman-turned-TV-star clinched the presidency.
With complete GOP control of the executive and legislative branches, top Republican policy experts see a chance for enacting a sweeping conservative agenda, from tougher immigration laws to tax reform to a repeal of Obamacare, and they want to jump on the bandwagon.
We’re on the cusp of accomplishing very big conservative policy goals, and that is very exciting,” says Lanhee Chen, policy director for Mitt Romney’s presidential run who as recently as July said Trump lacked an ‘ideological core.’
.. “The list of people actually willing to be considered has dramatically gone up.”
So has the number of D.C. insiders tripping over themselves to express support for Trump. “What will be really interesting is the number of D.C. lawyers and lobbyists who claim that they supported Trump all along,” says Ken Kies, a prominent tax lobbyist, Trump supporter and former chief-of-staff to the Joint Committee on Taxation. “They want to be able to show their clients that they have influence with Trump, even if they don’t.”
.. A person familiar with the meeting said Trump and his aides are debating who to tap for chief of staff. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, Christie and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway are seen as leading candidates for the job.