With control of the White House and both chambers in Congress, Republicans had mixed legislative success last year: enacting a $1.5tn tax overhaul but failing to make good on a key campaign promise to repeal and replace former Democratic President Barack Obamas signature healthcare law. Congress has failed to pass a longterm budget, instead relying on a number of temporary spending bills and briefly falling short of doing even that last month, which led to a threeday government shutdown. Immigration in particular has become a thorny issue for both Republicans and Democrats. Former businessman Trump found political success in large part because of his tough campaign stance toward immigrants. But in office he has sometimes been inconsistent in expressing his policy aims, or has been at odds with some in his own party.
