JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
President Trump has withdrawn his nomination for U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik to be ambassador to the United Nations. Trump said he wanted Stefanik to remain in Congress, where Republicans have only a slim majority. Joining us now to discuss this surprise move is NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Hi there.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: So Domenico, what did President Trump have to say about why he made this decision?
MONTANARO: Well, he said he wanted to, quote, "maintain every Republican seat in Congress," end quote, to help deliver on his agenda. Republicans currently hold 218 seats, Democrats 213. Four seats are currently vacant. That means, right now, Republicans only have a two-seat majority in the House, and we know that even within the GOP conference, it's not always easy for leadership to keep everyone on the same page, so they need every vote that they can get.
Stefanik was one of the first people Trump selected for his administration. Remember, you know, she was also thought to be on the short list for vice president, too. So Trump likes her a lot, says that maybe she'll be in his administration at some point. Her nomination was expected to sail through the Senate, but she hasn't been confirmed yet. And apparently Trump, as he himself wrote, appears to be concerned that - there was at least some degree of concern of retaining the seat in the House.
SUMMERS: OK, so just to understand, is the thinking here that a Democrat could possibly pick up the seat if she were to leave?
MONTANARO: Yeah, I wouldn't say that a Democrat would have won, definitely. You know, this is a pretty Republican seat - upstate New York - and Stefanik won it in November with 62% of the vote. But these special elections can be real wild cards. You know, the out party often has the energy on their side. And this is a reflection of Trump's administration facing political headwinds rather than having the wind at their backs. You know, it's really the first tangible example we've seen showing the White House concerned, even a little bit, about the politics of Trump's and Republicans' broad agenda.
The bottom line here in this seat, though, is that Republicans were still favored to win, but Republicans apparently thought that they might have to sweat it out more than they would have liked. And they're already dealing with a House race in Florida for another open seat, happening on Tuesday, caused by another Trump appointment - someone else who's been in the news this week - Mike Waltz, who's Trump's national security advisor who had been caught up in this Signal chat group controversy. The Republican replacement for Waltz' seat there is heavily favored, but national Republicans have also had to intervene because of lackluster fundraising.
SUMMERS: Right. Well, I mean, Domenico, this is a bit of a surprise. What reaction have we heard so far to this news?
MONTANARO: Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson praised Stefanik and said she would make a great ambassador, but also referenced the Republicans' razor-thin majority and said having her in Congress would help them solidify their majority to get Trump's agenda passed and offered her a leadership spot, though it's not clear what position that would be because they're currently all filled.
Democrats, of course, pouring some salt in the wound. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries boasted that this is evidence Republicans are, quote, "afraid" of losing her seat because of an unpopular GOP agenda. We know that Americans are concerned about the state of the economy. Even though fixing inflation was a key part of Trump's platform in the presidential election, you know, tariff threats could have real consequences for prices for consumers. And consumer confidence, we've seen just this week, at record lows. So, you know, that could be an issue for Republicans going forward, but Trump's immigration agenda, on the other hand, you know, does seem to be more popular.
SUMMERS: You mentioned the economy as well as immigration there. What else is President Trump hoping to accomplish with Congress?
MONTANARO: Well, I mean, there's a lot that Trump wants to get done and needs Congress to get done - you know, another sweeping round of tax cuts, for example, funding for deportations and border security. But so far, we haven't seen Congress do a whole lot in trying to get a Trump agenda passed. It's been all by executive action that Trump has done anything in these two months, even though it's been a lot. But you can't do everything by executive order alone because those things don't have the force of law. It's really a reflection and a reminder of how important Congress is in solidifying a permanent agenda for a president. You know, as one Republican pollster told me this week, things that are done by pen and phone can be undone by pen and phone.
SUMMERS: NPR's Domenico Montanaro, thank you.
MONTANARO: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
