PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump ordered Senate and House Republicans here to get to work: new trade deals, new construction projects, an Obamacare repeal and replacement, filling a Cabinet and a Supreme Court seat and reforming the tax code.

But the business mogul-turned-president is getting a reality check from Congress, which can't just wave through his agenda. Each piece of legislation Trump wants to pass will be a major lift on Capitol Hill — and much of it will spark fierce Democratic resistance — meaning it will take weeks or months of negotiation to come together.


“It’s a new world when you have 535 people on your board of directors,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) in an interview. “Donald Trump is a man of action. He wants things done and done yesterday. We like that about him, but Congress was not set up to act like that.”

Some of Trump's proposals, including his infrastructure pitch, aren't even priorities for Republicans. Instead, they're targeting health care and taxes atop their agenda, both monumental tasks that could easily exhaust much of the GOP's political capital. And the GOP congressional retreat here in Philadelphia — intended to help smooth over differences and speed things along — produced little progress on any of those big ticket items.

On Wednesday Trump tasked lawmakers with running “the busiest Congress we’ve had in decades, maybe ever.”

“Now we have to deliver,” he told lawmakers. "Enough all-talk, no-action…. This is our chance to achieve great and lasting change for our beloved nation."

But when House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) laid out their 200-day plan on Wednesday, Trump’s big infrastructure plan — a cornerstone of his agenda — was barely emphasized.

It’s not that Republican leaders are dismissing it altogether. But in their minds, they’ve got bigger fish to fry.

“That's one where the president is a little more emphatic than the Republican leadership,” said Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). “Infrastructure is on his mind more quickly than the Republican leaders’ mind. Him being a builder and doer. He wants to see something tangible.”

It’s not just infrastructure that will take some time. In interviews, Republican lawmakers described a significant learning curve for Trump when it comes to congressional relations. Trump has been talking frequently with McConnell and Ryan and has dispatched Vice President Mike Pence to Capitol Hill repeatedly.

Those are important steps. But Congress is by design a fractious institution that views itself as co-equals with the White House.

“President Trump comes from a different world. Out in the business meeting he liked things done fast,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “At times it’s going to frustrate him.”

The House can pass legislation with a simple majority, but the GOP conference is made up of disparate factions of conservatives, moderates, Trump allies and skeptics. And moving most pieces of major legislation through the Senate will require Trump to win Democratic support. Perhaps even more problematic for Trump, the Senate generally moves at a sedate pace: Cabinet confirmations can take days, routine bills a week and major deals can take months to come together.

“Congress moves fast. It’s the Senate that’s the problem,” McCarthy said.

Even using techniques that can evade Democratic filibusters like budget reconciliation to repeal Obamacare or reform the tax code will be a high-wire act given the Senate GOP’s slim 52-seat majority. And if things stall in Congress, Trump may not want to hear it.

“He's not going to be interested in why votes can't happen or that they can't happen now,” said Sam Nunberg, a longtime aide to Trump. "He's going to want legislation to his desk and fast. He doesn't do well with being told it's going to take time."

Already there are strong signs from Capitol Hill that things are moving far more slowly than Trump may like. Efforts to repeal Obamacare are in a holding pattern as Republicans battle over how to replace it — a demand from Trump that has sent Capitol Hill into a frenzy.

Several senior House Republican sources have griped privately that they can’t finalize their Obamacare playbook until the Senate confirms Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), his choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. They want Price to tell them what he can do on his own accord, once he's there, and what he needs from Congress to help move things along.

The GOP retreat did little to get things moving on the matter. Republicans held a special session on Thursday morning to try to figure out an Obamacare strategy, but lawmakers and aides said there was no breakthrough, no specific timeline and no specific proposal to come out of it. Other than, of course, that they want to pass everything by March or April.

"I wouldn't feel good about telling you there's an agreement,” said Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) afterward.

Few decisions were made during Republicans’ retreat huddle on tax reform, too — one of the heaviest lifts for Congress this year.

“I dunno,” answered Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) when asked what changed on tax reform during the session and whether there was movement or agreement on how to proceed. “We talked. ... It was Q-and-A. ... It was more a discussion about the nuts and bolts on tax reform and economic growth."

Republicans will have to agree on which of hundreds of deductions and credits to eliminate to pay for lower tax rates. There’s also been mixed feelings about Ryan’s proposed border adjustment levy that taxes imports and provides relief to exports.

Then, there's infrastructure, which just doesn't excite Republican leadership because it will cost tens of billions of dollars to do something significant. Several sources said Trump has privately complained to members of Congress about the lack of momentum on a big infrastructure bill, which Trump referenced several times on Thursday. The president is frustrated that rebuilding roads and bridges isn’t on Congress’s 100-day list, which has already transformed to a 200-day list because of how long it may take to confirm Trump’s Cabinet because of Democratic resistance.

“It's hard to figure out when we'll have the time to do that in the schedule,” said a senior Republican congressional aide.”This kind of stuff takes time. I don't think they ... even have a plan.”

Publicly, House and Senate Republicans insisted that they their two disparate institutions were fostering fraternity in Philadelphia. But progress with Trump himself was more scarce and lawmakers that wanted to press Trump on what exactly he wants from Congress got little clarity in his appearance at the retreat because he left immediately after his speech ended, foregoing an expected Q&A with lawmakers and leaving the job to Pence.

That leaves the triangulation of White House-congressional relations to people like House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who isn’t even officially in the administration.

“I've been talking to a lot of members, and there's just a very real sense that they don't know what it looks like or how it's going to work yet,” Gingrich said. “There's going to be an effort from the Trump Team and the Republicans to make sure that things don't move at a glacial pace. But the Senate is also drowning in all these confirmations.”

McConnell made that point to reporters on Thursday, emphasizing that the Senate has to confirm literally hundreds of Trump’s nominees. But Trump already seemed frustrated that the GOP Senate hadn’t confirmed his Commerce Department pick, who only passed a committee vote on Tuesday.

“They’re not quick with the pen on signing these people,” Trump said.

Trump has picked up a number of top aides from the Senate for his staff, which gives his administration more familiarity with the ins-and-outs of the arcane institution. But as far as Trump himself, it may take a stalled bill or a failed vote for Trump to learn the limits of his power with Congress.

“The way he campaigned with his Twitter feed he sort of controlled the environment, whereas now, when you’re dealing with other countries or with Congress, it’s going to require a different set of skills to negotiate,” said Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) “If he’s going to be successful, and if this Congress is going to be successful ... it will require that skill set.”