Multiple Senate Republicans are worried that acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is becoming too difficult to work with because of his former membership in the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
According to The Hill, there is talk that Mulvaney — who took over the chief of staff job at the beginning of the year after John Kelly left — is blocking deals with Democrats in order to further his agenda.
"There is a feeling that the Freedom Caucus may be on the wane in the House, but it's on the ascendency in the West Wing," one Republican senator told the news outlet.
Another said, "He's a former member of the Freedom Caucus, and he's used to saying no."
A third senator was frustrated with Mulvaney being OK with keeping the government open via a long-term continuing resolution, rather than a budget.
One ongoing issue is the debate around a Democrat-led relief package to help Puerto Rico continue to recover from the 2017 hurricanes that slammed into the island. There's additional relief legislation in the works to aid midwest and southeast states — which are mainly Republican — from recent flooding.
It was reported last month that talks between Republicans and Democrats on the aid packages stalled, largely because of the additional money proposed for Puerto Rico.
The debate has even gotten personal, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticizing Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., over the Puerto Rico aid.
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