Trump heads to Camp David this weekend to talk 2018 GOP agenda

Getty Images

President Donald Trump (C), House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) (L), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (2nd L) and Vice President Mike Pence make their way to a news conference announcing Congress passing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on the South Lawn of the White House on December 20, 2017 in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump will be at the Camp David retreat for the weekend, where he will meet with top officials in his administration and Congress to plan out the upcoming year.

“We’re going to Camp David with a lot of the great Republican senators and we’re making America great again,” the president said as he left the White House.

On Friday, the White House said a group of 24 people will attend the “small-group discussion” on the Republican legislative priorities for 2018.

“These priorities will include: ensuring continued economic growth, national security, promoting responsible immigration reform, funding our troops, rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure, the FY19 budget, welfare reform, the opioid crisis, healthcare, the 2018 elections and confirming the President’s qualified nominees,” the White House press office said in a statement.

Earlier Friday, White House chief economic advisor Gary Cohn said officials will decide whether a massive infrastructure package or welfare reform will come next. Both could happen simultaneously, he told CNBC.

Senate Republicans would need to use budget reconciliation rules, which require only a simple majority vote, to pass welfare reform. The Senate GOP majority just went to 51 seats from 52 seats, and they would need to get to 60 votes to overcome a likely Democratic filibuster and make possible changes to social safety net programs.

Here are the officials joining Trump:

• Vice President Mike Pence
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
• House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.
• Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas
• House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
• House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.
• Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
• Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
• Chief economic advisor Gary Cohn
• Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
• Education Secretary Betsy Devos
• CIA Director Mike Pompeo
• Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney
• EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt
• White House chief of staff John Kelly
• Press secretary Sarah Sanders
• Deputy Secretary of Transportation Jeffrey Rosen
• White House director of legislative affairs Marc Short
• Assistant to the president Johnny DeStefano
• White House director of political affairs Bill Stepien
• Assistant to the president Mercedes Schlapp
• Assistant to the president Stephen Miller
• Assistant to the president Andrew Bremberg