[W]ASHINGTON — In his first visit to the White House, Republican Gov. Phil Scott seemed more enchanted by the splendor of the building than by the president.
During a Sunday evening dinner of rib-eye steaks and seafood, Republican President Donald Trump spoke to Scott and 45 other gathered governors on topics ranging from infrastructure to immigration. In his remarks, Trump offered broad assurances to governors and pledged to return power to the states.
Scott was on Pennsylvania Avenue as part of the annual meeting of the National Governors Association, a bipartisan group of state leaders. While the governor has long been critical of Trump, Scott said he was heartened by some of the president’s rhetoric.
“We will have to see what is put forth in policy to see if he backs up what he is selling us,” Scott said Monday evening shortly after returning to Vermont.
Scott said he felt the president “dialed back his rhetoric” on immigration policy over the weekend, an area where the governor has diverged sharply from Trump.
The governor has railed against Trump’s executive order banning travel from seven majority Muslim countries, and Scott has supported state legislation that would prevent the federal government from commandeering local police for federal immigration raids.
Scott said the president suggested that a new, more moderate immigration order would be released by the White House soon, and that immigration raids would be directed at criminals only.
Trump “said the right things to the governors,” the governor said, but the president’s rhetoric was often vague. A planned two-hour session Monday with Trump and the NGA members was shaved down to just one hour.
“He talked a lot about wanting to listen to the governors, and he said he had a great deal of respect for us and wanted to include our ideas,” Scott said. “He said he knows all states are different.”
In his remarks to the governors, Trump reiterated his pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
Many states, including Vermont, have expanded Medicaid coverage through federal subsidies attached to the Affordable Care Act. Scott said that he, along with other Republican governors from Michigan to Massachusetts, are hoping Trump’s plan retains key parts of the current law.
Scott said the president offered no details about how a replacement health care plan would work.
“Trump only said that he was going to come out with a plan that, in his words, ‘was good, really good,’” Scott said.
During the Sunday night soiree, Scott and his wife, Diana, dressed in evening wear, walked through the splendid halls of the White House, looking at presidential portraits until they found a painting of the only Vermont president: Calvin Coolidge.
“It was a pretty special night,” Scott recalled.
The couple also posed for photo with the president and first lady Melania Trump. While Scott spent no time one on one with the commander-in-chief, he said he made connections with two White House staffers whom he first met through the Lieutenant Governors Association.
“They’ll take my phone calls, and that’s the important part,” Scott said. “It’s always nice to have a connection.”
