Treasury secretary to meet with House Republicans as Trump eyes new tariffs
It's the latest meeting House GOP conference chair Lisa McClain has set up with members of Trump's Cabinet in an effort to keep lawmakers in the loop on White House plans.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday afternoon for a meet-and-greet session with House Republicans, according to Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., the chair of the House GOP conference, as President Donald Trump seeks to implement new tariffs and quickly pass his policy agenda.
Bessent’s timely visit, first reported by NBC News, is the latest in a string of meetings between House Republicans and key Trump administration officials called the “Meet the Cabinet” series, which McClain recently started orchestrating on Capitol Hill. In her leadership position, McClain is in charge of the House GOP’s messaging arm, as well as member services.
The goal of the meetings, McClain said, is to provide rank-and-file members with a direct line of communication with the new administration, which she argued will help educate House Republicans and make their messaging more effective. Some congressional Republicans have privately complained that they are often out of the loop on the White House’s moves, from the scope of upcoming tariffs to the Elon Musk-led cost-cutting crusade inside the federal government.
House Republican conference chair Lisa McClain, R-Mich., is organizing meet-and-greets for GOP lawmakers with Trump administration officials.Tom Williams / Getty Images“We want to hear it from the horse’s mouth. ... We have to arm people with the facts,” McClain, who just stepped into the No. 4 leadership position this year, said in an interview. “Our members are able to ask tough questions to the person directly involved. It just brings everyone closer. It helps unify the conference.”
Since McClain started the series in March, she has hosted several other members of the Trump administration on Capitol Hill. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with House Republicans in early March to kick off the series. And Vice President JD Vance joined a House Republican conference meeting last month ahead of a critical vote on government funding, which Vance strongly advocated for. Nearly every House Republican ended up voting for the bill, a big feat for GOP leadership and the White House.
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