The “summer of Trump” is about to run smack into the return of Congress, as the four senators seeking the Republican presidential nod return to Washington with a massive stage and several high-profile fights they can use to burnish their images as conservative fighters.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has already vowed to take a stand over funding for Planned Parenthood, while all the Republican senators adamantly oppose the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration. Both issues will get full hearings, complete with Washington media circus treatment, this month.
Polls have shown that Mr. Cruz, as well as Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida have failed to distance themselves from their 16 rivals, with all of them stalling out, or slipping, in surveys since Mr. Trump cannonballed to the head of the pack in mid-July.
Mr. Graham and Mr. Paul are polling near the back, while Mr. Cruz and Mr. Rubio are toward the middle of the 17 candidates.
As a result, political analysts say, the stage is set for the Republican senators to try to seize the limelight on Capitol Hill and build momentum for their candidacies heading into the fall.
“With one or two exceptions, Republican presidential primary politics hasn’t had much of an impact on the legislative process so far this year,” said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist.
“But when Congress reconvenes, all that is going to change. Legislation ranging from the need to fund the government for another year or to extend the debt limit are in danger as the candidates threaten to torpedo the legislative process,” Mr. Manley said.
That could further complicate things for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, and House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, who return from the five-week break to face a number of high-priority issues — including a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running beyond the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Congress is also expected to, among other things, consider an increase to the government’s borrowing limit and take up a defense policy bill.
The Republican field’s first order of business appears to be putting the brakes on the Iran deal. Mr. Cruz, Mr. Graham, Mr. Rubio and Mr. Paul oppose the plan, which lifts economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for Tehran’s agreement to curb its nuclear activities. They argue that the Obama administration has given up too much in negotiations and Iran’s leaders want to damage U.S. and Israeli interests.
But stopping it could be easier said than done.
The administration scored a major victory last week after Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland Democrat, announced that she would support the nuclear deal, giving Mr. Obama enough votes in Congress — at least 34 in the Senate — to sustain a presidential veto of a Republican plan to scrap the deal.
Still, Mr. Cruz, who has embraced Mr. Trump much more than any of his other rivals, plans to ramp up the political drama this week when he joins forces with the New York billionaire at a rally on the Capitol grounds against the deal.
The biggest fight, though, could be over ending funding for Planned Parenthood after backlash over a series of undercover videos that have raised questions over the group’s practices.
The videos have sparked an uproar among pro-life groups and vows from the entire Republican field — including the four senators — to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider.
Mr. Cruz has said he would use any and all means available to Congress to gut federal funding for Planned Parenthood, raising talk of another government shutdown — something Republican leaders are hoping to avoid.
Others expect Mr. Paul to make the most of the fight.
Mr. Cruz and Mr. Paul each has shown he is willing to gum up the legislative process.
Mr. Paul led filibusters challenging the Obama administration’s drone policy and against renewing some snooping powers in the Patriot Act. Mr. Cruz led the 2013 push to defund Obamacare that led to a 16-day government shutdown.
Others, including Mr. Graham, have warned against that sort of strategy, saying a government shutdown would undermine national security.
John Feehery, a Republican Party strategist, said the desire to keep the focus on former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s struggles could help Republican leaders keep control of the process.
“I think the specter of Hillary will actually make it easier for leaders to convince their followers that oversight is a better weapon on Planned Parenthood than another government shutdown,” Mr. Feehery said.
Eric Fehrnstrom, who served as a senior adviser on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, said that political environment is ripe for a political outsider, which poses a challenge for the Republican senators.
“Insiders are out of favor,” Mr. Fehrnstrom said. “The stronger force in American politics right now is with the outsiders. The last place you want to be seen is in the well of the Senate.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.