{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://scalise.house.gov/press-releases/The-Hill-Scalise-Embraces-House-GOP-Elder-Statesman-Role-Amid-Leadership-Shakeup-Speculation", "The Hill: Scalise Embraces House GOP Elder Statesman Role Amid Leadership Shakeup Speculation", "2026-07-24", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "House", "LA", "Steve Scalise", "S001176", "scalise.house.gov", "scalise", "https://scalise.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014This week, The Hill\u2019s Emily Brooks profiled House Majority Leader Steve Scalise\u2019s (R-La.) storied and successful leadership of the House Republican conference as we go into the 2026 midterm elections. Read the full article below or click here.\n\nThe Hill: Scalise embraces House GOP\u2019s elder statesman role amid leadership shake-up speculation\n\nJuly 23, 2026\n\nBy Emily Brooks\n\nHouse Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) has reached his peak elder statesman era in President Trump\u2019s second term.\n\nThe No. 2 House Republican has harnessed policymaking lessons from Trump\u2019s rocky first-term trifecta, providing institutional memory that is unique among the conference\u2019s other top leaders who rose to their positions later. At the same time, Scalise has grown his relationship with Trump and enjoyed more cohesive working relationships with leadership colleagues.\n\nThat experience, plus his conservative bona fides and surviving a brush with death in the 2017 congressional baseball shooting, has positioned Scalise to be a top contender for the House GOP\u2019s No. 1 slot should control of the House flip after the midterms. The always-on-message Scalise brushed off that prospect, though, as he expressed optimism about Republicans\u2019 chances of defying history to keep control of the chamber.\n\nIn an interview with The Hill in his Capitol office last week, Scalise said he has a \u201cunique skill set\u201d with his conservative policy wonk roots and history of building trust with Trump. That has helped him most, he said, in pushing major legislation through a historically slim and complicated Republican majority.\n\n\u201cI think that goes back to being chairman of the Republican Study Committee,\u201d Scalise said, referring to the largest policy-minded, traditionally conservative caucus in the House, which he led more than a decade ago before jumping to be GOP whip in 2014.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ve got to really take it serious and focus on the details, because the details are what matter.\u201d\n\nAs House Republicans last year crafted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which extended tax cuts and pushed through partisan spending priorities, Scalise was the only member of House Republican leadership who was also in a top leadership position when Republicans crafted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reconciliation bill in Trump\u2019s first term in 2017.\n\n\u201cI learned from the first Trump term that he was not in sync with all of leadership. Some were fighting President Trump,\u201d Scalise said of Trump\u2019s first term, noting the president\u2019s rough relationship with then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and saying Trump \u201cdidn\u2019t have the closest relationship\u201d with former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). That dynamic, Scalise said, led to delays in advancing the party\u2019s legislative agenda.\n\n\u201cWe literally wasted the first six months with everybody being on different pages,\u201d Scalise said.\n\nRepublican leaders didn\u2019t want that to happen again if Trump won the 2024 election and started planning months ahead of time what they would do legislatively if the GOP won trifecta control of government. Scalise said he flew to Mar-a-Lago to talk to Trump about those ideas about six months before the election \u2014 and took his suggestions of what kind of policies to add, like the \u201cno tax on tips\u201d provision for qualified tipped workers.\n\n\u201cOur relationship has grown through the years to where we not only trust each other, but he also knows that I have a really good understanding of how the House works,\u201d Scalise said of his relationship with Trump. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to bridge some gaps through some of that trust.\u201d\n\nThen, Scalise got into the policy weeds \u2014 and management of the committee leaders crafting the various aspects of what would eventually get put into the bill, even months ahead of the election.\n\n\u201cI had tasked the committees with very aggressive things to do, but I gave them the clear direction along the way,\u201d Scalise said. \u201cI gave everybody deadlines \u2014 you know, \u2018Get the bills out by these times. These are your target numbers.\u2019\u201d\n\nIn the end, the House GOP was able to overcome infighting made more complicated by the slim Republican majority and deliver the One Big Beautiful Bill Act \u2014 which Republicans and the White House have since worked to rebrand as the Working Families Tax Cuts \u2014 to Trump\u2019s desk by July 4 last year.\n\nThe dynamics in the House GOP have shifted dramatically in Scalise\u2019s nearly two decades in Congress. Narrow margins and emboldened hard-liners have led to out-in-the-open rebellions on legislative items big and small on a near-weekly basis.\n\nScalise said the aim of the leadership team now is to bring different factions of the conference together to help them understand each other\u2019s perspective.\n\n\u201cThey think leadership\u2019s stopping them from getting it, when it\u2019s really other colleagues of theirs that won\u2019t vote for that stuff,\u201d Scalise said. \u201cI said, well, don\u2019t make it be leadership versus everybody else. Have them in the room, sitting across the table from their own colleagues.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou can hash out a lot of problems in an hour-and-a-half, two-hour meeting of some yelling and screaming,\u201d Scalise said.\n\nHe doesn\u2019t do that alone. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has also embraced those kinds of meetings, which he dubs \u201cintense fellowship.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Speaker\u2019s got incredible patience. He and I have a great relationship. We\u2019ve known each other for 30 years,\u201d Scalise said. \u201cI do think that helps.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s no secret on Capitol Hill that Scalise had a complicated relationship with Johnson\u2019s predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), even though they both publicly downplayed the tension. With fellow Louisianan Johnson at the helm, Scalise comes across as more empowered than in the past, though the majority leader declined to characterize it that way.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not going to compare leadership teams. I\u2019m just going to talk about what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Scalise said.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been in majorities where we had 35-seat majorities where we didn\u2019t get as much done.\u201d\n\nScalise said leaders now try to emphasize to members that they \u201ccan do big things,\u201d but to do so, \u201cwe\u2019re going to have to come together and work through our differences.\u201d\n\nDespite Johnson\u2019s odds-defying performance as Speaker given the slim majority and rebel culture, Republicans widely assume a midterm loss would result in the Speaker exiting from leadership altogether. Johnson recently told The Wall Street Journal he wants to stay in the post if Republicans win but demurred when asked about the possibility of Republicans being relegated to the minority.\n\nScalise, as the current No. 2 Republican, is an obvious contender to take the No. 1 slot if Johnson departs. But members have also speculated about whether House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) would seek the job, and they suspect House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) could make an insurgent bid \u2014 though none of them have confirmed that interest. All three leaders at various points sought to replace McCarthy as Speaker when he was ousted three years ago.\n\nScalise did not directly answer when asked if he would seek to be minority leader. He said people are always asking him: \u201cAre you going to run against this guy? Are you going to run for that thing?\u201d\n\n\u201cAs long as I do this job well, I don\u2019t worry about the next job, and I\u2019ve never done that,\u201d Scalise said. \u201cI know some people walk in the building thinking they\u2019re going to be president of the United States. That\u2019s never been the approach I\u2019ve had.\u201d\n\nHis short-lived bid for Speaker after McCarthy\u2019s ouster was complicated by uncertainty about whether he would be up for the job health-wise.\n\nScalise, 60, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, in August 2023. The cancer was described by his office as \u201cvery treatable,\u201d but some Republicans were hesitant to hand him the high-stress, travel-intensive job just a few months later.\n\nHe announced in February 2024 that his cancer was in \u201ccomplete remission\u201d and has traveled extensively on the campaign trail since. Still, scrutiny of high-powered lawmakers\u2019 health issues has increased in the last few years, with instances like former President Biden being pushed to end his reelection bid after a disastrous debate performance; Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) refusing to explain his health-related absence for months; and McConnell waiting weeks to fully explain the circumstances of his hospital stay.\n\nBut Scalise\u2019s cancer battle, combined with his emotional and legendary return after surviving the congressional baseball shooting, also displays personal resilience that has endeared him to the rest of the GOP.\n\nThrough tough votes and turbulent internal politics in the Republican Party, Scalise has been a disciplined messenger for Republicans, seemingly incapable of putting his foot in his mouth.\n\n\u201cI know what I need to do,\u201d Scalise said about his message discipline. \u201cWe have got a tough conference, a complicated conference, but you know, you got to work with everybody. But you also have to be candid with him and go, \u2018OK, it\u2019s time. Now it\u2019s time to get on the train.\u2019\u201d\n\nIt helps, he said, that Trump is engaged in the process. The president will ask Scalise to give him names of members to call to get on board \u2014 and while some might see the attention from Trump as a treat, Scalise insisted: \u201cThat\u2019s not a call you want to have.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s our best closer for a reason \u2014 because he also knows what he wants to do, and we\u2019re all helping each other achieve the things we ran on,\u201d Scalise said of Trump.", 1, "2026-07-25T07:13:44Z", "2026-07-25T07:15:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://scalise.house.gov/press-releases/The-Hill-Scalise-Embraces-House-GOP-Elder-Statesman-Role-Amid-Leadership-Shakeup-Speculation"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8502057753503323, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}