washington<u+2014>gop leaders on monday struggled to articulate in detail how they would implement president-elect donald trump <u+2019>s campaign pledges on capitol hill and whether they approved of the president-elect<u+2019>s first staffing picks for his administration. the prospects of complete gop control across the white house and both chambers of congress thrilled republicans last week. but its ramifications began to set in over the weekend and monday. a particularly contentious topic was mr. trump<u+2019>s decision to name stephen bannon , the former head of breitbart news, as chief strategist. that appointment provided an early measure of the challenges gop leaders will face over the next four years responding to mr. trump<u+2019>s most unorthodox decisions. in a briefing with reporters that turned combative, house majority leader kevin mccarthy (r., calif.) repeatedly declined to comment directly on the qualifications of mr. bannon, whom mr. trump said sunday would be his chief strategist and senior counsel. mr. bannon became chairman of the trump campaign in late summer, leaving his position atop breitbart news. that website has taken aim at establishment gop figures and is identified with the <u+201c>alt-right,<u+201d> a movement that promotes nativism and views immigration and multiculturalism as threats to white identity. <u+201c>the president has a right to select the team<u+201d> he wants to work with in the white house, mr. mccarthy said. while he praised republican national committee chairman reince priebus, whom mr. trump named as his chief of staff, mr. mccarthy said he didn't know mr. bannon well enough and would give him <u+201c>the benefit of the doubt.<u+201d> mr. mccarthy said he spoke briefly with mr. bannon on sunday. mr. mccarthy questioned whether mr. bannon was responsible for a series of inflammatory breitbart headlines widely seen as critical of women, immigrants and jews. when asked how he would respond to illegal immigrants<u+2019> fears of deportation and worries of violence against muslims and other minorities, mr. mccarthy spoke about the symbolism of a painting in his office featuring americans of different ethnicities. <u+201c>i know people are trying to create all this fear,<u+201d> mr. mccarthy said. the only breitbart headline he directly criticized was one that called former democratic rep. gabby giffords of arizona the <u+201c>gun control movement<u+2019>s human shield.<u+201d> in january 2011, ms. giffords was shot in the head in a shooting spree outside a safeway supermarket in tucson. <u+201c>nowhere would i ever agree with those words,<u+201d> mr. mccarthy said. democrats have sharply criticized mr. trump<u+2019>s selection of mr. bannon in a high-profile role in his administration . rep. adam schiff of california, the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, said that mr. trump<u+2019>s choice was <u+201c>unsurprising but alarming<u+201d> in a message on twitter late sunday. <u+201c>his alt-right, anti-semitic and misogynistic views don<u+2019>t belong in the white house.<u+201d> mr. mccarthy also declined to go into details on how the house might implement mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign pledges to build a wall along the southern border with mexico, deport illegal immigrants and repeal and replace the 2010 health-care law. when asked about building a wall, mr. mccarthy said he expected lawmakers would focus on boosting border security, which could include a wall in places. mr. trump had talked about deporting all illegal immigrants during the campaign, but appeared to soften that stance. in a <u+201c>60 minutes<u+201d> interview that aired sunday, he said he would aim to jail or deport between two million and three million illegal immigrants whom he described as criminals. on sunday, house speaker paul ryan (r., wis.) said on cnn that house republicans aren't focused on mass deportations of illegal immigrants. <u+201c>that is not what we<u+2019>re focused on. we<u+2019>re focused on securing the border,<u+201d> mr. ryan said. mr. mccarthy said he would need to get more clarity on mr. trump<u+2019>s comments in the same interview that he would repeal and replace the affordable care act <u+201c>simultaneously,<u+201d> but indicated that republicans wanted to create a transition plan so that people insured under the law wouldn't be left without coverage after its repeal. mr. mccarthy also said he hoped any plan from mr. trump to improve the country<u+2019>s infrastructure wouldn't add to the debt. mr. trump<u+2019>s proposal for $1 trillion worth of new infrastructure construction relies entirely on private financing, which industry experts say is likely to fall far short of adequately funding improvements to roads, bridges and airports. a presidential transition website that went up this week said mr. trump planned to invest $550 billion in infrastructure, without offering details on where that funding would come from. <u+201c>i<u+2019>ve always expected bills to be paid for,<u+201d> mr. mccarthy said. <u+201c>do i still care about the debt? yes. growth will solve so many of our problems.<u+201d> write to kristina peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com
gop leaders grapple with details of fulfilling trump<u+2019>s campaign pledges - wsj
kristina peterson