Tax Bill Stalls in House as Trump Works to Flip GOP Hardliners
Donald Trump’s signature economic legislation stalled in the House Wednesday afternoon as the president worked to win over Republican fiscal conservatives angry over the $3.4 trillion cost of his massive tax and spending package.
Republican congressional leaders delayed a key procedural vote for hours while the hardliners met in a room just off the House floor to refine their demands and then meet with the Trump’s budget director, Russ Vought.
Vought told reporters the two sides were “making good progress” as he left the session late in the afternoon. Earlier in the day, Trump summoned the conservative holdouts to the White House to meet with them in person.
The president’s ambitious timeline to pass the fiscal package by July 4 is running into resistance both from the conservatives and from swing-district moderates worried the measure cuts too deeply into Medicaid and other safety-net programs.
House lawmakers returned to Washington Wednesday to vote on the Senate-passed version of the measure, which only squeaked through the upper chamber with Vice President JD Vance casting a tie-breaking vote.
Several House lawmakers, including Representatives Chip Roy of Texas and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, early in the day predicted the procedural vote needed to advance the legislation would fail.
But after meeting with Vought, Norman offered praise for guidance the budget director provided on how the White House planned to wield the legislation’s authority to cut Medicaid spending.
“We had a lot of questions answered, a lot of information that we found out that we did not know,” said Norman, who has been pressing for steeper cuts to health insurance program for the poor and disabled.
House Speaker Mike Johnson can afford to lose only only three Republican “no” votes in the closely divided chamber, if all members are present and voting.
Representative Andy Harris, the leader of the hardline Freedom Caucus, cast doubt on the idea that Trump’s sprawling tax and spending legislation would be completed by July 4. He told reporters he would vote “no” on the bill.
“We could take another week to get this thing right,” Harris, a Maryland Republican, said during an appearance on CNBC Wednesday. “We’re willing to stay until we resolve this.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be ready by July 4,” he added, saying that the Senate “should not have left town” after passing its version of the measure on Tuesday.
The $3.4 trillion Senate bill adds more to the deficit than an earlier House version which clocked in at $2.8 trillion according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The Freedom Caucus wants spending cuts taken out in the Senate to be restored, but that threatens a prolonged standoff with that chamber. Roy said the group is “exploring all options” for addressing their concerns, including White House action or promises on future legislation
“The House took a position, the Senate took a position, now it’s time to get somewhere between those two positions and send something to the president’s desk,” Harris said. “We’re not talking about a revolt. We’re talking about actually doing the legislative process the way it’s supposed to be done.”
Moderates are also a problem for Johnson. A group of them says steeper cuts to Medicaid providers in the Senate bill than in the earlier will devastate hospitals in their districts.
Yet any changes to the measure made to win over restive House Republicans would force the Senate to vote again on the bill, blowing Trump’s 4th of July deadline, and adding weeks of potential delay to his signature measure. The White House so far hasn’t been entertaining changes to the bill text itself, instead exploring with Republican lawmakers if their priorities could be addressed in other ways, such as by executive actions or in future legislation.
Trump planned to meet with multiple groups of lawmakers on Wednesday to press them to support the legislation, an administration official said.
“We are going to get this done. Trump is the best closer,” Representative Richard Hudson of North Carolina, one of the House’s vote-counting whips, said predicting a vote on Wednesday. “The White House has made it clear we are done negotiating. It’s time to pass the bill.”
Source : Bloomberg
