Johnson, Trump push wary House Republicans for July 4 passage

Politico

8 hours ago

In a key sign of the bill's momentum, influential budget hawks who have been key players in blocking the bill in recent months in order to forge better deals are not raising objections this time. It's an acknowledgement that Trump and GOP leaders will push through the bill at any cost this week.
Still, Roy and other ultraconservatives have tried to push back on White House pressure to swallow the bill as is. He argued that Trump officials' efforts to undercut fiscal hawks' concerns about the legislation was 'garbage.'
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who frequently acquiesces to Trump's pressure, also noted the Senate version 'violates the minimum fiscal framework … by roughly half a trillion dollars.'
'So members will have a decision to make,' she said.
Another significant obstacle for GOP leaders are the dozens of GOP members concerned about deeper Medicaid cuts in the new bill. Many are in competitive districts and already shaken by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) torching his conference's Medicaid provisions on the Senate floor shortly after he announced his retirement.
Johnson in recent days tried to push Senate GOP leaders to soften the Medicaid cuts in their bill, to no avail. Privately, he warned Republicans the Senate's approach could lose House Republicans the majority in the midterms. But shortly after the Senate cleared the bill Tuesday, Johnson said he was still pushing to pass the bill by July 4. At the same time, he appeared to acknowledge the reservations among some members.
'They went a little further than any of us would have preferred,' Johnson told reporters.
The alarm among a swath of members about Medicaid has only escalated in recent days. On Monday, Johnson tried to calm anxious GOP members on a call with Main Street Caucus Republicans. But it went south for frustrated Republicans as Mehmet Oz, the Trump official who oversees Medicaid, insisted the Senate's cuts went after waste, fraud and abuse. Even a swath of conservative House Republicans don't want to vote on the Senate Medicaid cuts as they hear from their state hospital and the health care lobbies.
Other moderate House Republicans declined to weigh in on the Senate-passed bill. That includes Rep. Don Bacon, a key centrist Republican who announced this week he would not seek reelection.
'I'm keeping my powder dry,' he said.
Cassandra Dumay, Benjamin Guggenheim and Calen Razor contributed to this report.