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Trump arrives at US Capitol to pay respects to Carter and strategize his agenda with Republicans

The president-elect is meeting with GOP lawmakers ahead of Thursday's state funeral for the late former President Jimmy Carter.
President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump pause at the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter as he lies in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.
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President-elect Donald Trump arrived on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. on Wednesday just days before he's set to return there to be inaugurated president for the second time.

Trump and his wife Melania paid respects to the late former President Jimmy Carter, who is lying in repose in the Capitol Rotunda ahead of his state funeral on Thursday.

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Trump is also using the visit to Washington to meet with Republican lawmakers to strategize how to pass some of his campaign promises into law once he takes office.

It's no secret Trump wants new tax laws, energy changes and a stricter border policy. But those are all things that will require congressional approval.

The big debate among Republicans is whether those pieces of legislation should be pitched as one bill or separate bills.

"Some people like the one bill strategy others like the two bill strategy," House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier this week. "We are figuring out what works."

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Trump also briefly addressed part of that debate before heading into a meeting with Republican senators.

"We're looking at the one bill versus two bills and whatever it is it doesn't matter, we'll get the result," he told reporters. "And we're going to make America great again."

If one bill is the route President-elect Trump takes, sources tell Scripps News that it may take weeks and months of debate to decide what should be included in what is expected to be a large piece of legislation. That could set up votes that would likely happen sometime this spring.

And during a press appearance Wednesday, Trump reiterated to Scripps News that he intended to follow through with plans for mass deportations on day one of his presidency.

"We're going to have to take people out that are criminals," he said.