Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump nabbed two endorsements on Thursday from Republican House committee chairmen, Jeff Miller of Florida and Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania.
Hours after Trump’s convention manager Paul Manafort met with more than two dozen GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill as part of the campaign’s ongoing effort to begin to foster a relationship between the billionaire and Congress, Shuster and Miller announced their support.
“Donald is a private sector business leader who knows what it takes to get things done — and that is something that Washington desperately needs. Donald also shares my passion for economic development, including making sure our nation’s infrastructure meets the needs of our citizens,” Shuster, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in a statement released by the Trump campaign.
The Pennsylvania congressman was recently elected to represent his own congressional district as a national convention delegate at the GOP convention in July. He survived a close primary race Tuesday night.
Miller, who plans to retire at the end of his current term, told the Pensacola News Journal on Thursday that he’s chosen to support Trump because of the attention he’s paid to the issues surrounding veterans and returning service members’ care.
“Donald Trump is the only person who has what it takes to shake up the status quo and entrenched bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “I am more and more convinced that he has the ability to reach in and right the wrongs in the Department of Veterans Affairs once and for all.”
Miller has served as chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee since 2011. He and Shuster were one of 16 lawmakers present at the meeting with Manafort on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the gathering.
