PHILADELPHIA — Rep. Trent Franks had a simple question for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell during a private GOP meeting here Wednesday: Would he take up anti-abortion legislation the House passed? McConnell shot back that it would never get through the Senate because Democrats aren’t “pro-life” and have the votes to stop it.

So why don’t you just change the rules? Rep. Bruce Poliquin demanded moments later. McConnell dodged, suggesting it's not going to happen.


Congressional Republicans came here for a private retreat this week hoping to get on the same page on plans to repeal Obamacare and overhaul the tax code. But age-old tensions between the fast-moving House and plodding Senate percolated just hours into their three-day gathering.

House Republicans, eager to pass conservative priorities they’ve campaigned on for years, are already feeling restless that the Senate — and its higher hurdle for passage — will blunt their efforts. They’d love to kill the filibuster, a nuclear option the tradition-bound McConnell is loath to deploy.

“The public doesn’t want to hear about process; they want to see us get stuff done,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.). “I think there is a very low threshold of tolerance among our electorate right now for historical process (and) precedent.”

Senate Republicans need at least eight Democrats to come along with them to pass most legislation, restricting Republicans from restricting abortions, cutting spending significantly and adopting other big-ticket items that House Republicans feel shouldn't be so difficult given their control of both chambers.

Though lawmakers were in generally good spirits considering given their one-party control of Washington, the strain between the two chambers was on display during one of the first retreat sessions Wednesday afternoon.

Speaker Paul Ryan opened the session by ticking off major legislation he said Congress would send to President Trump over the next 200 days, a presentation that earned him a standing ovation. When he finished, and McConnell stood to address the crowd, Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) yelled “Now time for the rebuttal!” — jesting about Senate rules gumming up process.

Asked about the matter afterward, Hudson said it was all in good fun and “we understand the limitations of the Senate.”

It was during the closing question-and-answer session that Franks and Poliquin made their pitch to McConnell. As a social conservative, Franks for years has advocated restricting access to abortions, and with Republicans controlling all the levers of power in Washington, he argued now was the best shot to do it.

McConnell, however, would not commit to bringing the anti-abortions bills to the Senate floor. The measures have been approved by the House repeatedly.

A few moments later, when Poliquin took Trent’s question a step further, asking: Why don’t you just change the rules? McConnell told him to tune into C-SPAN next week to see how hard the Senate is working.

In an interview after the session, Poliquin said he raised the Senate rules matter because it’s "not a Constitutional issue” but " an internal rule” that sometimes stifles progress. He said if McConnell doesn’t change the rules, he encouraged him to require those filibustering legislation to go to the Senate floor and do so publicly to be held to account — an idea that has gained traction with House members.

“We have sent border security bills to the Senate that go nowhere. Sanctuary city bills that get stuck. We stood up against the Iran nuclear deal. The Senate never even voted on it,” he said. "We have a very impatient Republican House and a very impatient electorate… We want to get things done.”

McConnell's office said it doesn't provide readouts of private meetings.

Senate Republican sources in the room downplayed the schism, emphasizing that the entire party is coalescing around the broad contours of an agenda that would repeal Obamacare, slash taxes and gut regulations. Much of it, they said, could be accomplished on a majority vote without Democratic help through a fast-track tool called reconciliation.

And Considering the divisions within a party that resulted in a government shutdown in 2013, things are pretty good now by comparison.

“When’s the last time anybody heard a cross word out of Ted Cruz or Mike Lee?” said one person in the room. “This is a pretty unified party right now.”

But tensions have not disappeared: They're likely to mount as the legislative process heats up.

House conservatives are most concerned with the 60-vote threshold derailing their plans to slash spending and reduce the debt. They worry that in April, when a government shutdown must be averted, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will play hardball and give the GOP a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum that will result in far more generous spending legislation than Republicans believe an all-GOP Washington should be passing into law.

“I’ve always felt that the need to change the rules to get back to a simple majority. We call it a filibuster now, it’s not,” said Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.). “If someone actually had to do what Strom Thurmond did and stand on the floor and talk as long as he wants to? That’s where we need to go to. Right now somebody can just object and require a 60 vote threshold.”

But that’s not realistic. In the session, McConnell clearly signaled to the House that sweeping changes to the Senate rules aren’t coming and instead laid out his plan to confirm Trump’s Cabinet and use any extra time created by Democratic obstruction to repeal Obama-era regulations. He also emphasized the slow pace of the Senate, where it can take weeks to pass significant legislation.

“I can understand their frustration, but I’m not sure frustration profits anyone,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a former House member. “The Senate has it’s own frustrations with the House. It’s the way our Founding Fathers set it up. It’s worked pretty well for two hundred and something years.”

Bashing the slow pace and high bar in the Senate, of course, is a popular pastime in the House. And some House Republicans think their colleagues should get over it.

“Some of my colleagues in the House spend a considerable amount of time complaining about the Senate and the Senate rules," said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.). "All I know is if senators came over to the House and started complaining about our rules we’d consider it a human rights violation.”