Will Ryan and Trump be able to compromise?
House Speaker Paul Ryan is plowing ahead with a new agenda despite his many differences with his party's 2016 standard-bearer.
On Tuesday, Ryan released a 35-page report and a shorter, more summarized 4-page report on the problem of poverty in the US for the "A Better Way" campaign, which is sponsored by House Republicans.
The campaign aims to show what policies Republicans actually support amid internal concerns within the GOP establishment over their presumptive nominee Donald Trump. Underscoring the tension between Trump and the rest of the party, Ryan repeatedly condemned the presumptive GOP nominee's comments about a Mexican-American judge as racist.
The website for "A Better Way" was unveiled Monday morning and followed up on a punchy two-and-a-half minute promotional video from last Friday where Ryan plays lead role in selling the new campaign.
Last Friday's promotional video came only 24 hours after Ryan's endorsement of Trump, which overshadowed the campaign rollout.
Ryan, the highest sitting member of the GOP, still has differences with Trump on issues such as trade, entitlements and most recently Trump's decision to question U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's legal legitimacy because of his Mexican heritage.
Last Friday, Ryan called Trump's remarks on Curiel "out of left field" during a radio interview. ' "I completely disagree with the thinking behind that," Ryan said. On Tuesday, Ryan went further, calling Trump's remarks a "textbook example of a racist comment."
The judge issue aside, the economic policy differences between Ryan and Trump could not be greater for two high-profile characters who are uneasily residing within the same political party. Trump has called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which President Obama created and Ryan helped pass, and said he would eliminate the 12-country trade deal.
On taxes, Trump even suggested to NBC's Savannah Guthrie that he is in favor of raising taxes on the wealthy - a view that would make many traditional Republicans, including Ryan, cringe.
So far, "A Better Way" has stayed clear of these contentious issues, and its genesis has instead focused on overarching GOP themes such as political unity, less government and dissatisfaction with bureaucratic control and executive overreach.
On Tuesday, online visitors were able to see what policies House Republicans support to help alleviate a startling poverty rate in America that has grown to encompass almost 15 percent of the nation's population, according to US Census Bureau statistics.
Visitors on the website can open up two PDF files that both have details for the poverty plan. Some of these include "reining in Dodd-Frank regulations," "greater portability for housing assistance," paying for social programs through collaboration "with private-sector providers" and "reforms to child nutrition programs."
Online visitors will be able to return to the site on June 9 for a plan on national security. Additional dates for detailed information on the rest of the campaign's issues, including innovation and investment, the constitution, health care and tax reform, have not been confirmed.
A Trump response to the plan would hint to how nicely the nominee will play with seasoned congressional Republicans. But House Republicans and Trump may be closer than many think on practical policy.
On Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the Republican majority whip, claimed that Trump's ideas "weren't areas where he seemed to be apart from us."
When asked by John Dickerson on CBS News' Face the Nation whether he would be implementing a Paul Ryan agenda as opposed to Ryan implementing a Donald Trump agenda, Trump emphasized the importance of a compromise.
"He wants to take people out of poverty," Trump said. "So do I. And we're going to come up with a plan."
Scalise extended Trump's sentiment on the importance of compromise later that Sunday.
Republican lawmakers and Trump "talked about a lot of specifics" in their several meetings together, according to Scalise, and he said Trump would plan to sign any legislation emerging from "A Better Way" if he is elected president.