Republicans Seek Distance From Trump, and Other News From the Sunday Shows

“I know a lot of folks kind of wanted to say, ‘Should we talk about the economy or abortion?’” she said on CNN. “But the fact of the matter is, the ability to decide when and whether to have a child is the biggest economic decision a woman will make over the course of her lifetime, and that’s why we kept that front and center too.”

Republicans were divided on what comes next.

Beyond Mr. Trump and the 2024 presidential campaign, Republicans face the more immediate question of what to do with their narrow House majority if they secure one — or how to proceed if they fall short.

Mr. Cassidy, the Louisiana senator, said on NBC that he wanted the next Congress to focus on concrete policies, including bipartisan legislation; he praised the bipartisan infrastructure bill and an earlier measure against surprise medical bills.

“If we have results that show, these are our ideas — now, if the left frustrates our efforts, well, that will be part of what we will discuss, but we just have to make that case,” he said, pointing to Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, who won re-election, as an example of someone who had enacted “policies that make people in Ohio’s lives better, and he had an incredible victory. We can go around the country and see that.”

Mr. Cotton said similarly on CBS, “We need to focus on serious, substantive accomplishments and issues like crime, like our wide-open border, like addressing runaway inflation.”

Mr. Banks, the Indiana congressman, went in a different direction.

At first, he emphasized passing legislation “that addresses the issues that the American people care about — bringing down inflation and gas prices, the border, the drug crisis in America and the national security issues that keep Americans safe.” But then his tone changed.

After saying that, even with a small majority, “we have an opportunity over the next two years to be the last line of defense to block the Biden agenda,” Mr. Banks said he wanted Republicans to conduct investigations of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, its pandemic policies and the origins of Covid. He said he disagreed with Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, that voters would punish Republicans in 2024 if they focused on investigations rather than legislating.

“Oversight is a primary function of the Congress, and for the last two years there has been no oversight of the Biden agenda and the Biden administration,” he said. “That has to be a focal point of every single committee in the Congress.”