Republicans will support Donald Trump or Ted Cruz as nominee, say GOP leaders
GOP congressional leaders on Thursday said they are confident Republicans would back Donald Trump or Ted Cruz if they win the party's presidential nomination.
At their annual retreat in Baltimore, Maryland, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, were asked whether they are confident Republicans will support Trump or Cruz.
"Yes," Ryan said at a joint press conference with McConnell. "We're going to support whoever our nominee is. You know why? Because it's the Republican primary voter who makes that decision."
Recent polls show Trump and Cruz have been running neck and neck in Iowa where the primary season will kick off with the caucuses there on Feb. 1.
Ryan and McConnell said their goal for the rest of the year is develop an agenda that could be used under the next president, if it's a Republican.
"What can we do if we have a Republican president?" Ryan wondered. "What does 2017 look like if the election goes the way we hope it goes?"
McConnell suggested that the proposals they offer this year could be used as the centerpiece of the GOP nominee's campaign later this fall.
Ryan has said their top priority is to introduce an ObamaCare replacement plan. McConnell's goal is to pass all 12 annual appropriations bills individually for the first time since 1994, and to pass another GOP budget blueprint.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, has raised the idea of holding a Senate vote on Trump's plan to ban all Muslims from the U.S. McConnell suggested that if Democrats forced that vote through the amendment process, Republicans could counter that with votes on proposals offered by Hillary Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.