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President Donald Trump and Rep. Kevin Brady. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

House Republicans are stepping up their campaign to stop or alter President Donald Trump's most recent economic policy announcement: broad-based tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel.

More than 100 House Republicans sent a letter to Trump on Wednesday urging him to soften the blow of the recently announced tariffs, which are taxes on imports, and instead target China directly with trade action.

"We support your resolve to address distortions caused by China's unfair practices, and we are committed to acting with you and our trading partners on meaningful and effective action," the letter said. "But we urge you to reconsider the idea of broad tariffs to avoid unintended negative consequences to the US economy and its workers."

In a statement accompanying the letter, Rep. Kevin Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means committee who's leading the GOP's push against the tariffs 25% for steel and 10% for aluminum attempted to back Trump while critiquing the policy.

"We're writing today to say: we stand with you in taking tough action to keep America safe and our economy strong," Brady said. "At the same time, we're urging the President to tailor these tariffs so American businesses can continue to trade fairly with our partners, sell American-made products to customers all over the world, and hire more workers here at home."

The authors listed a few major concerns about how the tariffs could affect the US economy, such as increasing prices for consumers and raising costs for businesses that rely on the metals to make their products.

Additionally, the lawmakers argue, the negative consequences of the tariffs could undo any positive economic boost from the new GOP tax law. Losing that could also undercut the party's key message for midterm elections later this year.

To mitigate these issues, Brady and the other signatories suggested allowing US companies to apply for an exemption from the tariffs if they are unable to fill their metal needs domestically. They said the administration should also regularly review the measure to determine whether it is having the intended effect.

Republican leaders have been pressuring Trump to ease up on the tariffs since he announced them unexpectedly last week.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have both expressed misgivings about the tariffs over the past few days, and other Republicans have offered less-than-glowing opinions of Trump's move.

"This is not a real-estate transaction," Sen. John Cornyn, the second-highest-ranking GOP senator, told reporters on Tuesday. "You could maybe walk away from a real-estate transaction we really can't walk away from these trade agreements without jeopardizing the economy."

Trump is expected to formally sign off on the tariffs on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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Republicans, GOP trying to strop Trump tariffs - Business Insider

WASHINGTON Republicans on Capitol Hill reacted angrily to President Donald Trump's announcement Thursday that he is going forward with new tariffs on steel and aluminum, arguing that the move will harm the economy and that it threatens to start a broader trade war.

And while there are limits to what they can do to stop it, members are contemplating measures that could block the president from fully implementing his proposal.

"I don't think Republicans will put up with this, and I personally believe that we may be able to stop it in the Congress," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said.

The president announced a 10 percent tax on imported aluminum and a 25 percent tax on imported steel, carving out exceptions for imports from Canada and Mexico. But those exemptions weren't enough to placate congressional Republicans who have traditionally opposed protectionist action on trade.

GOP leaders had lobbied the White House from moving forward, writing letters, speaking out in the media and through outreach to the president and his advisers.

During a conference call between White House officials and GOP Hill staffers Thursday, administration representatives requested favorable comments from members on the presidents plan, a suggestion that the staff in one office laughed at, according to a Republican aide.

In a rare rebuke of the president, Republicans are vowing to continue challenging him in ways that could result in either new legislation or support for expected legal challenges to the move.

"I disagree with this action and fear its unintended consequences," House Speaker Paul Ryan said. "There are unquestionably bad trade practices by nations like China, but the better approach is targeted enforcement against those practices."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the exemptions for Canada and Mexico are not enough.

"Members of the Senate, myself included, are concerned about the scope of the proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum and their impact on American citizens and businesses, including many I represent in Kentucky," McConnell said.

And Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said that the president's "bad ideas" will kill steel jobs.

"You have 140,000 steel production workers. Some of them will be mildly helped by the presidents tariffs. Far more jobs will be lost for other factory workers," Sasse said.

Republicans are exploring ways to blunt the presidents authority on an issue on which they disagree.

Congress has the authority to act on trade issues, but the pendulum has swung in recent years, through court cases and by Congress delegating its authority to the executive branch.

"The Constitution gives the responsibility to the Congress, and the Congress has consistently delegated these powers to the executive branch," Sasse said.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., introduced legislation that would nullify the tariffs.

"I urge my colleagues to pass it before this exercise in protectionism inflicts any more damage on the economy," Flake said in a statement.

And Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has legislation that would attempt to rein in the president on trade by having trade action going through a congressional approval process. The president would have to submit a report to Congress before raising any trade barriers. And both bodies of Congress would have to pass a joint resolution approving any unilateral trade action.

"We'll continue to do oversight on this," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., said.

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Congressional Republicans threaten action over Trump's ...

Republicans vs Conservatives

Republicans and Conservatives have started to air out their differences more vocally and more pronounced in the past couple of years, though it was said that all Republicans were supposedly conservatives.

Republicans

Republicans can refer to a supporter of a republic. It refers to the people who believe in the form of government wherein freedom from dictatorship rules. Republicans believe that the government has no right to tax its people with amounts that are unrealistic in comparison to the recent economy. Republicans also promote small enterprise to promote the economy. Republican is one of the 2 major political parties in the United States.

Conservatives

Conservatives are group of individuals, mostly republicans who have a different view or philosophy in the political world. Conservatives have both a political and social philosophy that allows traditional institutions to be upheld and maintained in the government. It also allows and assists the social changes that are occurring every day. There are other conservatives who would rather maintain how things were and would rather have stability instead of change.

Difference Between Republicans and Conservatives

Republicans are political party while conservatives believe in the fiscal policy also called as philosophies. Republicans believe that by using tax money, the state will progress. Conservatives on the other hand, believe that tax money should not be wasted. Conservatives means that the government should not waste the peoples money but rather should spend less in order to gain more. Republicans are members of the Republican Party whereas conservatives are members of the party who has a more conservative view of the government. Republicans may or may not be a conservative political member.

Both revolve around politics and are quite disgruntled by the fact that their differences are not made more pronounce. As mentioned, republicans are political party members but do not mean that they are all conservative in terms of political views.

In brief:

Republican is a political party whereas conservative is a philosophy.

Republicans are for tax money to be used while conservatives believe otherwise.

Cite This Page"Difference Between Republicans and Conservatives." DifferenceBetween.Com. March 30, 2011.

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Difference Between Republicans and Conservatives

Donald Trumps utter unfitness for the presidency has been laid bare in Michael Wolffs new book. What will it take for his party to remove him from office?

What did you think would be the Republican reaction to the latest revelations about Donald Trump? Did you expect the partys luminaries to drop their collective head into their hands, or to crumple into a heap in despair at the state of the man they anointed as president of the United States?

Theyd certainly have had good reason. In the book Fire and Fury, which on Thursday received the greatest possible endorsement namely a cease and desist order from Trumps personal lawyers the journalist Michael Wolff paints a picture of a man whose own closest aides, friends and even family believe is congenitally unfit to be president.

The Trump depicted in the book is ignorant: the adviser who tried to teach him about the constitution could get no further than the fourth amendment before Trumps eyes glazed over. He doesnt read, or even skim, barely having the patience to take in a headline. Some allies try to persuade Wolff that attention deficit disorder is part of Trumps populist genius: he is post-literate total television.

The Republicans have predicted many times that Trump would change. They've been wrong every time. He wont change

He is also loathsome: we read that a favourite sport of Trumps was tricking friends wives to sleep with him. He is weird, especially in the bedroom: having clashed with his secret service bodyguard over his insistence that he be able to lock himself into his quarters (Melania has separate accommodation), he demanded the installation of two extra TV sets, so he could watch three cable news channels at once. He heads back under the covers as early as 6.30pm, munching a cheeseburger as he soaks up hours of Fox and CNN. If there are crumbs, the chambermaid cant change the sheets: he insists that he strip the bed himself.

We learn that Trump believes Saturday Night Live is damaging to the nation and that it is fake comedy; that daughter Ivanka wants to be president herself and that privately she mocks her fathers nature-defying combover. And, perhaps most amusingly, we get an answer to the question that has long enraged Trump: the identity of the mystery leaker behind the stream of stories of White House chaos and fratricidal dysfunction that have appeared since he took office. It turns out that the president rants endlessly on the phone to his billionaire friends, who feel no duty of confidentiality. In other words, the leaker Trump seeks is himself.

Given all this material, youd forgive congressional Republicans for being glum. Alternatively, youd understand if they tried to denounce the book, perhaps joining those who question Wolffs methods, believing he too often strays from corroborated facts and cuts journalistic corners. But that has not been the reaction.

Instead, the official campaign account for Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, tweeted a gif of McConnell grinning mightily. And that smirk captured the mood of many of his colleagues. What do they have to smile about? Theyre pleased because they believe Fire and Fury marks the downfall of Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist to Trump and source of some of the books most scathing lines. It was Bannon who told Wolff that Trump had lost it, and Bannon who described the meeting Donald Trump Jr had with a Russian lawyer convened for the express purpose of receiving dirt on Hillary Clinton as treasonous.

Trumps response came in the form of a long and furious statement that loosely translates into New Yorkese as Youre dead to me which delighted establishment Republicans who have long seen Bannon as the enemy within.

It would be nice if this loathing were rooted in ideological principle, with Republicans despising Bannon as the apostle of an ultra-nationalist isolationism and xenophobia that could tip the US and the world towards a 1930s-style catastrophe. (Recall that Bannon once promised Wolff the Trump administration would be as exciting as the 1930s.)

But the truth is that Bannon posed a threat to McConnell and his ilk, vowing to run insurgent, Trump-like candidates against establishment Republicans in primary contests (just as he did, in vain, in Alabama last year). If Bannon is broken, they can sleep more easily.

Some go further, believing that, as Bannon dies, so does Bannonism. They speculate that, with the ties to his onetime evil genius severed, Trump might now moderate, becoming a more conventional, focused occupant of the Oval Office. This is delusional, twice over.

First, its true that things look bad for Bannon now: he has apparently lost the financial backing of the billionaire Mercer family, and its possible he stands to lose control of his far-right Breitbart media empire. But he understands Trump and knows that, if youre ready to grovel and flatter, a rapprochement is always possible. Hence Bannons declaration on Thursday that Trump is a great man.

But the more enduring delusion is that Trump is poised to moderate. Republicans predicted he would change once the primaries of 2016 were under way. Then they said he would change once hed won the party nomination. Or when the presidential election campaign proper began. Or when hed won the election. Or once hed taken the oath of office. They were wrong every time. He wont change. Trump is Trump.

The sheer persistence of this delusion points to another one: the hope that Republicans will finally decide enough is enough and do the right thing by ousting this unfit president. The Wolff book has prompted another flurry of that speculation, focused this time on the 25th amendment of the constitution, which allows for the removal of a president deemed unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.

In an article this week, Wolff provides arresting evidence of mental deterioration. He writes that Trump would tell the same three stories, word-for-word, inside 30 minutes, unaware he was repeating himself. Now it was within 10 minutes. He adds: At Mar-a-Lago, just before the new year, a heavily made-up Trump failed to recognise a succession of old friends. But the 25th amendment requires the agreement of the vice-president, a majority of the cabinet and, ultimately, both houses of Congress. We are, once again, up against the sobering truth of the US constitution: it is only as strong as those willing to enforce it. And, today, that means the Republican party.

These latest revelations prove yet again what a vile, narcissistic and dangerous man we have in the Oval Office, wielding, among other things, sole, unchecked authority over the worlds mightiest nuclear arsenal. But the reaction to them proves something else too. That he remains in place only thanks to the willing connivance of his Republican enablers. As culpable as he is, they share in his damnation.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

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Fire and Fury confirms our worst fears about the Republicans

A raft of retirements, difficulty recruiting candidates and President Trumps continuing pattern of throwing his party off message have prompted new alarm among Republicans that they could be facing a Democratic electoral wave in November.

The concern has grown so acute that Trump received what one congressional aide described as a sobering slide presentation about the difficult midterm landscape at Camp David last weekend, leading the president to pledge a robust schedule of fundraising and campaign travel in the coming months, White House officials said.

But the trends have continued, and perhaps worsened, since that briefing, with two more prominent Republican House members announcing plans to retire from vulnerable seats and a would-be recruit begging off a Senate challenge to Democrat Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota despite pressure from Trump to run.

And by the end of the week, many Republicans were scrambling to distance themselves from the president after he spoke of shithole countries during an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers about immigration policy. Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), a rising star in the party who faces a strong Democratic challenge this year, quickly denounced Trump for apparently denigrating Haiti, the birthplace of both her parents, during the Oval Office discussion.

The president must apologize to both the American people and the nations he so wantonly maligned, Love demanded creating a model, perhaps, for Republicans in competitive races to try to separate from Trump as a survival strategy.

As President Trump denied calling Haiti and African countries 'shithole countries,' Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) confirmed and condemned his language. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

In the Camp David presentation, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) described scenarios to the president ranging from a bloodbath where Republicans lost the House and lost it big, in the words of one official, to an outcome in which they keep control while losing some seats.

McCarthy outlined trends over recent decades for parties in power and spotlighted vulnerable Republican seats where Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Eight years ago, before the 2010 midterms swept the GOP to power, he had drafted a similar presentation with the opposite message for his party.

Republicans hold the advantage of a historically favorable electoral map, with more House seats than ever benefiting from Republican-friendly redistricting and a Senate landscape that puts 26 Democratic seats in play, including 10 states that Trump won in 2016, and only eight Republican seats.

But other indicators are clearly flashing GOP warning signs. Democrats have benefited from significant recruitment advantages there are at least a half dozen former Army Rangers and Navy SEALs running as Democrats this year, for example as Republicans struggle to convince incumbents to run for reelection.

At least 29 House seats held by Republicans will be open in November following announced retirements, a greater number for the majority party than in each of the past three midterm elections when control of Congress flipped.

The presidents own job approval, a traditional harbinger of his partys midterm performance, is at record lows as he approaches a year in office, according to Gallup. Polls asking which party Americans want to see control Congress in 2019 show a double-digit advantage for Democrats.

When the wave comes, its always underestimated in the polls, said a conservative political strategist who has met with GOP candidates. That is the reason that Republicans are ducking for cover.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) announced on Jan. 10 that he wont seek reelection in 2018, joining more than a dozen Republican members of Congress who will retire. (Sarah Parnass,Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

[Republicans in immigrant-rich Fla. scramble in wake of Trumps remarks]

Amid the onslaught, Republican strategists say they continue to pin their partys electoral hopes on the nations still-rising economic indicators, the potential effects of the recent tax-reform bill and Trumps ability to rally the conservative base.

The monthly metrics are bad, from the generic ballot to the Republican retirements to the number of Democratic recruits with money, said one Republican political consultant, who works with major conservative donors involved in the midterms and asked for anonymity to speak frankly. The big question is: Is everything different with Trump? Because the major metrics point to us losing at least one house of Congress.

That sliver of optimism extends to the top of the Republican leadership who are hopeful that Trumps disruptive effect on the political landscape can once again surprise the nation this fall.

Who knows what 2018 will be like? Nobody called 2016, right? said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), the second-ranking Republican in that chamber. Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was going to get elected and that Chuck Schumer was going to be the majority leader. And none of that turned out to be true.

In private conversations, Trump has told advisers that he doesnt think the 2018 election has to be as bad as others are predicting. He has referenced the 2002 midterms, when George W. Bush and Republicans fared better after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, these people said.

But his ability to shape the midterm field has repeatedly been frustrated.

Trump worked hard to recruit two 2018 Senate candidates, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and incumbent Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), both of whom announced in recent weeks that they would not run.

Those decisions strengthened the hopes of Heitkamp, who is running for reelection in a state that Trump won by 36 points in 2016, and provided an opportunity in Utah for a Trump antagonist, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, to launch a Senate bid of his own.

In other cases, Republicans have struggled to narrow their Senate fields, with big and sometimes-nasty primary fights shaping up in Indiana, Montana and Arizona. The recent announcement that former Phoenix-area sheriff Joe Arpaio would run for the Senate has raised some Republican concerns about holding onto the seat of retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.).

Republican leaders feel better about Trumps ability to elevate Missouri candidate Josh Hawley, the state attorney general, who greeted the president on a recent visit. The White House is also pushing Florida Gov. Rick Scott to run against Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), although associates of Scott are of mixed opinions on the likelihood that he will do it. In a move White House aides described as unrelated, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recently granted Florida an exemption from the presidents new plan to open the nations coastlines to offshore drilling.

In Ohio, state Treasurer Josh Mandel also made a surprise announcement on Jan. 5 that he would abandon his own Senate campaign, which had broad national support, because of his wifes health. The White House political operation helped push Rep. James B. Renacci (R-Ohio), who had launched an outsider bid for governor, to instead challenge Sen. Sherrod Brown (D).

Trump continually reminds advisers that he remains popular in a number of states, including West Virginia, Montana and North Dakota, according to aides. But slow fundraising and anemic candidate recruitment have caused tensions between the White House and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, White House advisers said.

Still, two people with direct knowledge of that relationship said it has improved considerably in recent months. One person said there is an active effort to professionalize the operation, and coordination has improved.

A Republican familiar with NRSC operations said there was a noticeable fundraising uptick in December, when the GOP tax bill passed, which helped smooth out relations after a rough period that included a stinging special election defeat in Alabama that cost the party a Senate seat. These days, the Republican said, White House aides are in frequent contact with committee officials and the favorable map is a main driver of hope. An NRSC representative declined to comment.

White House officials said they expect a full plunge in upcoming weeks into a special House race in Pennsylvania, with trips from Trump, Vice President Pence and Cabinet members. The race has taken on a larger-than-life role in the White House because officials want to stem the tide of the losses they suffered last year in Virginia and Alabama.

White House officials also said they are interested in progress on infrastructure, which polls well across the country, particularly in swing districts. And they have begun exploring ways to inject wedge issues that could trouble Democrats in more conservative states. Those could include immigration votes, requirements for welfare, sanctuary-city reform and revisions to the guest-worker program.

Despite all that, political handicappers have gradually increased the odds that Democrats will retake the House, where they need to pick up 24 seats to do so. Democrats must net two seats to take control of the Senate, a harder task given the number of competitive states where Trump won election.

Among the recently announced Republican retirements are Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) and the surprise decision by Rep. Edward R. Royce (Calif.), who had previously told party leaders that he was committed to reelection. Both seats are now seen as potential Democratic pickups.

Hopes of recruiting other top-tier candidates have been frustrated. In Tennessee, Democrats recruited former governor Phil Bredesen to run for the Senate seat left open by the retirement of Sen. Bob Corker (R). But Republican efforts to recruit the current governor, Bill Haslam, fell short.

One prominent GOP donor said rumors that former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty would jump into the race are unfounded. Hes told me unequivocally hes not going to run for the Senate, the donor said. Pawlenty did not respond to a request for comment.

Republican strategists said they want to spend the next eight months talking about the economy.

I think its far less challenging now that weve got tax reform behind us, said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), the vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, echoing the hopeful line. The discussion we were having with candidates last year is weve really got to produce a result. Weve got to have something to run on.

But maintaining that message can be a challenge, as the president showed this week when his vulgar comments about some developing countries sparked international outrage.

Dave Hansen, a political adviser to Love, the Utah congresswoman, said such conflicts are unavoidable during the Trump presidency.

Its certainly not like running with Ronald Reagan, thats for sure, Hansen said. What a candidate has to do in a situation like this is, you cant be all in for the guy. Basically, you support him when you think hes right and oppose him when you think hes wrong.

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New alarm among Republicans that Democrats could win big this ...