With 'big' bill in rearview, Trump doesn't have a new to-do list for Congress

President Donald Trump will not be presenting Congress with a new to-do list anytime soon as Senate and House Republicans turn to other pressing matters after narrowly approving most of the president’s second-term priorities.

As the ink dried on the GOP-crafted and -passed “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that Trump signed into law on July Fourth, his White House has pivoted to his global trade war, Texas flood relief efforts and several thorny foreign conflicts. The president is expected in the Lone Star State on Friday to see the devastation from the recent flooding in the Hill Country region and to meet with some of those affected.

Trump made clear during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting that, for him, the post-“One Big, Beautiful Bill” era would start with a focus on setting tariff rates for a list of other countries — and dealing with his increasing frustration with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. In fact, the first week of this new phase of his second term had a distinctly foreign policy theme with Trump twice holding working dinners at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the dovish American leader and his hawkish Israeli counterpart tried to smooth over differences on the conflict in Gaza and how to handle Iran.

Trump also met Wednesday at the executive mansion with a group of leaders from African nations, several of whom said Trump deserves consideration for the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor he has openly mused about receiving.

“There’s still much more to be done, and we’re going to be facilitating peace also in places like Sudan, where they have a lot of problems. Libya and others. … There’s a lot of anger on your continent,” Trump told the leaders Wednesday. “We’re working tirelessly to forge new economic opportunities involving both the United States and many African nations. There’s great economic potential in Africa, like few other places. In many ways, in the long run, this will be far more effective and sustainable and beneficial than anything else that we could be doing together.”

Trump and several top aides have made clear that he wants world leaders to continue negotiations with his team on trade, even if they received a letter setting new duty rates. He also wants Putin to stop presenting him with “bulls—” in their telephone conversations, ostensibly over ending Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Several former congressional aides and analysts this week said they expect this new phase for Trump to include an even greater focus on foreign policy — from Ukraine and Gaza to issues such as his long-sought goal of bringing Israel and Saudi Arabia back to the table about normalizing relations.

But when it comes to Congress, the president appears satisfied — for now, at least — with what he has already gotten from lawmakers.

“President Trump’s ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill’ is a historic achievement that delivers win after win for the American people. From providing the largest tax cut in history to securing the border to ending taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security, and so much more, this legislation is the encapsulation of all the campaign promises the American people elected President Trump to enact,” White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said in a Tuesday statement prepared for CQ Roll Call.

“While the media may be quick to ask ‘what’s next?’ the American people will continue celebrating the wins in ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill,’” Jackson added. “And President Trump won’t stop working for the people to deliver more.”

Trump’s “big” law, however, has been polling underwater for months.

Ivan Zapien, a onetime Democratic National Committee official and aide to former Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said he expects the White House and Republicans to be “focused on selling the Big, Beautiful Bill and getting in shape for the midterms.”

“There will likely be talk of a second and possibly a third reconciliation (bill), but there isn’t an appetite or room to do so and find the cooperation to secure 60 votes to fund the government by the (Sept. 30) deadline,” added Zapien, now a partner at law firm Hogan Lovells.

Next week, the Senate is expected to take up the White House’s request to rescind, or cancel, billions in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting ahead of a July 18 deadline. The House narrowly approved its rescissions package last month. Also facing Congress is the usual Sept. 30 deadline by which lawmakers and Trump must likely agree to some kind of funding deal to avert a government shutdown. And, as always, time-consuming work on the annual Pentagon policy bill is ongoing.

Beyond those measures, White House aides have not outlined a legislative wish list for the balance of Trump’s first year back in office. And some of his foreign policy goals for this new second-term phase appear to contradict. For instance, he told the African leaders Wednesday he wants sustained peace on their continent — but also said he wants to sell large amounts of American-made weapon systems to each of their countries. He’s also resumed U.S. arms shipments to Ukraine while trying to broker an end to fighting with Russia.

‘Best deals’

The president and his top aides spent the spring and early summer meeting with Republican lawmakers about the sweeping tax and domestic policy measure Trump signed on July Fourth.

Without no arms left to twist among Republican holdouts, Trump and his aides have signaled that other countries have extra time to huddle over revised trade arrangements. A July 9 deadline on Sunday became an Aug. 1 target — it was earlier set for April 9.

“So the reciprocal tariff rate, or these new rates that will be provided in this correspondence to these foreign leaders, will be going out the door within the next month, or deals will be made (as) those countries continue to negotiate with the United States,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.

“We’ve seen a lot of positive developments in the right direction,” she added. “But the administration, the president and his trade team want to cut the best deals for the American people and the American worker.”

As the White House turns to trade and global matters, Congress next week will begin in earnest a three-week sprint to its annual August recess. Trump himself is expected to have some downtime next month, setting the stage for another new phase after Labor Day — the “threat of a government shutdown” season.

“I think Democrats now have some leverage over either what is in a continuing resolution or the individual appropriations bills,” said G. William Hoagland, who was a senior aide to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. “It might be that (Trump) would be OK with a government shutdown.”

“But that would work counter to the monies he got in the One Big, Beautiful Bill for defense and border protection,” Hoagland, now with the Bipartisan Policy Center, said via email. “That is why I am betting on a continuing resolution well into next year.”

Beyond the coming government spending drama, Democrats continue to contend that voters will punish Republicans in next year’s midterms for the mammoth tax and spending law.

“Trump’s intense effort to pass his ‘big, bad bill’ into law is proof positive that he doesn’t care a flying fig about winning over any swing independent voters,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said. “Now that the deadly deed has been done, he will continue his campaign to light a fire under his diehard MAGA supporters so he’s confident they vote in what Trump hopes will be a low-turnout midterm election.”

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