Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) struck an optimistic tone Monday as they emerged from a meeting with President Trump one day before his first joint address to Congress.
“We’re looking forward to a positive, upbeat presentation tomorrow night and proceeding with our agenda,” McConnell said outside of the Oval Office on Monday afternoon.
{mosads}Both men expressed joy at the prospect of enacting Republican legislative priorities after two terms of a Democratic president.
“We need to get on with solving people’s problems,” Ryan said.
“The goal of what we are trying to achieve is to improve people’s lives–we have a bold agenda in front of us and the president is going to lay it out and why its going to make a difference in people’s lives.”
Trump is slated to speak to Congress on Tuesday night. While not officially a State of the Union at this early stage of the Trump administration, the speech is expected to outline the president’s domestic and economic agendas.
Much emphasis has been placed on the repeal and replacement of ObamaCare, an issue reporters asked Ryan about on Tuesday.
“We will be rolling out our plan very soon, it’s in the legislative process. ObamaCare is collapsing under its own weight right now,” he said.
“This is a rescue mission. We have to step in and prevent ObamaCare from getting worse, from collapsing, and we will replace it with a law that’s better.”
Trump announced he’d increase military spending as part of a new budget summary that came from the White House on Monday.
While Ryan said that it’s too early for him to process the new numbers yet, he is “very excited” to start moving forward on the spending plan.