WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump will huddle with congressional leaders on Tuesday, seeking to rev up a stalled legislative agenda as the summer break draws closer and a probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election campaign grinds on.

Elected pledging to overhaul the healthcare system and slash taxes, Trump has yet to notch a major legislative win, and time is running out before lawmakers leave Washington for August.

The White House is trying to spur momentum this week by highlighting policy plans - a task made more difficult with the spotlight on testimony by James Comey, the FBI director fired last month by Trump, to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. Comey will be grilled by senators on whether Trump tried to get him to back off an investigation into alleged ties between the president’s 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump denies any collusion with Russia, and has called the investigation a “witch hunt.”

The White House wants to see Senate Republicans vote on healthcare reform legislation before they leave for a break in August, Marc Short, Trump’s top aide on Capitol Hill, told reporters on Monday. The House of Representatives passed a bill in May.

“Big meeting today with Republican leadership concerning Tax Cuts and Healthcare. We are all pushing hard - must get it right!” Trump said in a statement on Twitter early on Tuesday.

A vote to raise the government’s borrowing authority, known as the debt limit, should also take place before the break, Short said.

Republican fiscal conservatives routinely demand budget cuts and other concessions as a price for raising the debt limit, setting up a likely fight.

Congress will then turn its focus to overhauling the tax code in September. While the administration would prefer that the effort not add to the national debt, Short stressed that the top priority would be cutting taxes.

“We want it to be revenue neutral, and we are still supportive of tax reform, but I am also saying to you that what we believe is most important to get the economy going is the tax cuts,” he said.

The Trump administration has outlined a broad plan that would cut tax rates for businesses and streamline the tax system for individuals. But, the proposal has been short on details - including the cost of the tax cuts and what loopholes would be closed. 

The healthcare bill passed by the House could result in 23 million people losing insurance, the Congressional Budget Office estimated, though Republicans have challenged that conclusion. The bill would also reduce federal deficits by $119 billion between 2017 and 2026, according to the analysis.

Short said he believed that the Senate healthcare bill would be “similar” to the House package.

Senator John Cornyn, the No.2 Republican in the Senate, said Monday evening he thought there would be a vote on a healthcare bill in the Senate in July. Trump’s ‘been clear to me’ to try to rebuild Russia ties: Tillerson

US President Donald Trump told his top diplomat that the dispute over probes into links between his inner circle and Russia should not undermine US efforts to rebuild relations with Moscow, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday. Speaking in New Zealand after a trip to Australia, Tillerson reiterated the US commitment to the Asia-Pacific region as global leaders have expressed growing mistrust over the Trump administration, which has withdrawn from key international agreements since taking office.

At home, Trump’s administration has been plagued by questions over links to the Russian government. Tillerson said Trump told him to try to improve ties with Russia regardless of the US political backdrop.

“I can’t really comment on any of that because I don’t have any direct knowledge,” Tillerson told a news conference in Wellington, when asked how worried he was that the US political crisis could take down the Trump administration.

“The president’s been clear to me: do not let what’s happened over here in the political realm prevent you from the work that you need to do on this relationship and he’s been quite clear with me... that we might make progress. I’m really not involved in any of these other issues,” he said after a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English.

US intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to tilt the election campaign in Trump’s favor, including by hacking into the emails of senior Democrats, a charge the Kremlin denies. Trump has denied any collusion but the FBI and congressional probes into the Russia matter have dogged the early months of his presidency.

Tillerson said the Asia-Pacific region remained “extremely important” for the United States both in terms of national security and economic interests.The Trump administration has come under fire for withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and more recently the Paris Climate accord - both key to the region and to the small island nation of New Zealand.

His visit was met by protesters, who threw condoms filled with water at a figure of Trump in front of parliament, protesting against the US withdrawal from the Paris agreement and urging English to take a tougher stance, according to media.

“We do believe that engaging globally remains important and we will be seeking ways to remain engaged and there are many ways we can do that, through the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change as well as economic and trade forums that we will obviously be very active in as well,” he said.

The visit also comes at a time when China, one of New Zealand’s top trading and diplomatic partners, is projecting itself as the leader of free trade particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.