Trump's big tax and policy bill stalls as GOP conservatives push for changes
WASHINGTON – Progress on President Donald Trump's massive tax and policy bill has stalled as ultraconservative members of the House Freedom Caucus demand further changes.
The intra-party spat comes as Republicans are trying to push through a massive party-line package that includes tax cuts, sweeping changes to Medicaid and food benefits, border security and defense funding and more.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he wants to pass the bill before the Memorial Day weekend. But fiscal conservatives are concerned about the $3.8 trillion the package will add to the deficit over the next 10 years, and are pushing for a quicker roll-back of green energy subsidies passed under former President Joe Biden and additional changes to Medicaid.
"I don't think it can get done today," House Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Andy Harris, R-Maryland, told reporters on May 21.
The revolt from the most conservative wing of the House GOP came a day after Trump met with Republicans in the U.S. Capitol and told them to stop negotiating and pass the bill. But many lawmakers coming out of the meeting took the message as fuel to push for their changes, such as eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse" from the program that provides health insurance to more than 71 million Americans.
"The president yesterday laid out some really clear terms, and we're working to achieve them," said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
The wavering Republicans declined to specify exactly what they're pushing for but said they're concerned that benefit programs no longer serve the people it was intended to. They're also concerned the ballooning national debt could have catastrophic effects for everyday Americans.
"Now's the time for transformative reform," Roy said.
Asked about the status of the legislation during the arrival of the South African president, Trump told reporters at the White House that the bill is doing "very well."
"It’s very close," the president added.
The Office of Management and Budget released a statement calling upon Congress to "immediately" pass the legislation. "Failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal," it concluded.
Several of the holdouts will visit the White House with Johnson in the afternoon to find a path forward for the legislation, though the president and GOP leaders don't have much wiggle room.
Another group of Republican lawmakers from blue states, such as New York, New Jersey and California, has also been pushing for a change before they're willing to support the president's bill. They want a higher cap on a tax deduction that gives homeowners a federal tax break for taxes they have already paid to state and local entities, known as SALT.
Right now, there is a $10,000 cap on those deductions due to the 2017 law that first created Trump's tax cuts. The lawmakers are pushing to raise the cap significantly, which is in tension with the fiscal conservatives hoping to push the package's price tag down.
They reached a tentative deal with House leadership late on May 20 to raise the cap to a $40,000 deduction. That new cap would apply to people who make less than $500,000, an amount that would grow slightly every year for the next 10 years.
Contributing: Bart Jansen
(This story has been updated with more information.)