White House spokesman Josh Earnest lectured Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans on Thursday for appearing to be more concerned about a meeting with their presumptive GOP presidential nominee than governing.
Earnest dodged a question about whether President Obama and Democrats are worried about Republicans starting to unite behind the billionaire businessman after Ryan and Trump issued a hopeful joint statement playing up areas of agreement after their Thursday morning meeting.
“You certainly have better informed, more experienced and surely higher paid analysts who can examine the fault lines of the Republican Party,” he told reporters during his daily briefing Thursday.
He then ticked off a litany of top White House priorities Republicans have failed to act on, including funding to fight the Zika virus, a bill to prevent Puerto Rico from defaulting on its debt, and a funding bill to help local communities provide better treatment for opioid addiction.
“There are a number of critical priorities that Republicans could be focused on in the House of Representatives right now and in the U.S. Senate that are an important part of the job they have right now,” Earnest said.
Many Republicans disagree with providing $1.9 billion in funding to fight the Zika virus until unused money already appropriated for the largely successful battle against Ebola is spent. When it comes to opioid abuse, the House just this week has passed three bills aimed at helping to stop opioid addiction, but the White House has said they “lack substance” because they don’t provide any immediate new funding.
On House action on opioid legislation this week, Earnest said, “We see the House trying to take a victory lap on legislation that doesn’t actually provide any money to ensure that any more people can get access to treatment.”
“If Republicans had much more conviction about their agenda, they’d be trying to implement it now as opposed to trying to convince other members of the Republican Party or the presumptive Republican nominee that what they propose is the right they to do,” he said.
Earnest then brushed off a direct question on whether the White House is concerned that Republicans appear to be slowly coalescing around Trump as their nominee.
“I don’t know anyone here who’s going to lose any sleep over the meeting,” he said.
