President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Congressional leaders in the Oval Office of the White House on Sept. 6. | Evan Vucci/AP Trump: Congress may not be able to deliver on ambitious agenda

President Donald Trump on Wednesday acknowledged that GOP lawmakers have a very full plate of ambitious agenda items that they may not be able to deliver on.

The president met with congressional leaders — House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — in the Oval Office on Wednesday morning. Vice President Mike Pence, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were also present.


“We have many, many things that are on the plate,” Trump told reporters. “Hopefully we can solve them in a rational way, and maybe we won’t be able to. We’ll probably know pretty much at the end of this meeting — or the meetings that we’ll be having over a short period of time.”

Congress faces a series of deadlines this fall: to repeal and replace Obamacare by a simple majority, pass a spending bill, reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration and raise the debt ceiling, to name a few.

Lawmakers are also pursuing aid for Hurricane Harvey victims and working with the White House on a tax reform package, and they were tasked by the president on Tuesday to reform the nation’s immigration system by March.

The Trump administration on Tuesday announced that it would rescind former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program with a six-month delay, giving lawmakers time to find a legislative solution. But the White House insisted Tuesday that “a one-piece fix” isn’t enough, urging Congress to pursue more broadly “responsible immigration reform.”

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Trump late Tuesday then dangled the possibility on Twitter that he would “revisit” DACA if Congress fails to pass a bill. But he told reporters on Wednesday that he isn’t second-guessing his decision to end DACA, a program that offers protections to thousands of young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

“No second thoughts,” Trump said of his rescission of DACA. Asked if he thought Congress could pass legislation for DACA recipients, the president replied: “I hope they do. I certainly hope they do.”