On one of the most pressing issues — whether to renew protections for the young immigrants known as Dreamers — the president said he hoped he could strike a deal with Democrats, but added that there would be no deal unless it included construction of a border wall with Mexico, a condition Democrats are unlikely to accept.
The president also again said Mexico would pay for the wall in some form, something that the Mexican government has strongly rejected.
Mr. Trump said that Republicans were looking at changes to the nation’s welfare laws, but that they would have to be done on a bipartisan basis. Democrats oppose such changes, and Mr. Trump seemed to concede that the issue might have to wait behind more pressing matters like military funding and infrastructure legislation.
Flanked by the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and Speaker Paul D. Ryan, among other officials, the president pronounced his meetings with Republican congressional leaders “perhaps transformative in certain ways.”
He also vowed to campaign vigorously for Republican candidates in the midterm elections.
“We need more Republicans,” Mr. Trump said.
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