Republican leaders in House work to win over final holdouts on Trump's tax bill

Arab News

3 days ago

WASHINGTON: Republican leaders in the House were busy Wednesday trying to win over some final holdouts on President Donald Trump's tax and spending cuts package — determined to seize momentum from a hard-fought vote in the Senate while essentially daring members to defy their party's leader and vote against it.
'The American people gave us a clear mandate, and after four years of Democrat failure, we intend to deliver without delay,' the top four House GOP leaders said Tuesday after the bill passed the Senate 51-50, thanks to Vice President JD Vance's tiebreaking vote.
It's a risky gambit, one designed to meet Trump's demand for a July 4 finish. Republicans have struggled mightily with the bill nearly every step of the way this year, often succeeding by only one vote. Their House majority stands at just 220-212, leaving little room for defections.
Some Republicans are likely to balk at being asked to rubber-stamp the Senate version less than 24 hours after passage. Republicans from competitive districts have bristled at the Senate bill's cuts to Medicaid, while conservatives have lambasted the legislation as straying from their fiscal goals.
It falls to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, and his team to convince them that the time for negotiations is over. They will need assistance from Trump to close the deal, and several conservatives went to the White House to talk about their concerns with the president.
'The president's message was 'we're on a roll.' He went over all the tariffs that he's got and the money that's accumulated, the economy's hot, and he wants to see this,' said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C.
In another warning sign of some House Republican resistance, a resolution setting up terms for debating Trump's bill barely cleared the House Rules Committee on Wednesday morning. Republican Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Ralph Norman of South Carolina sided with Democrats in voting against it.
Trump can't afford to lose many votes from Republicans. Late into the afternoon, a procedural vote was being held open for more than two hours as GOP leadership waited for lawmakers delayed coming back to Washington because of weather and to conduct closed-door negotiations with concerned members.
Trump pushes Republicans to do 'the right thing'
The bill would extend and make permanent various individual and business tax breaks from Trump's first term, plus temporarily add new ones he promised during the 2024 campaign, including allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and a $6,000 deduction for most older adults. In all, the legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years.
The bill also provides about $350 billion for defense and Trump's immigration crackdown. Republicans partially pay for it all through less spending on Medicaid and food assistance. The Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will add about $3.3 trillion to the federal debt over the coming decade.
The House passed its version of the bill in May, despite worries about spending cuts and the overall price tag. Now, it's being asked to give final passage to a version that, in many respects, exacerbates those concerns. The Senate bill's projected impact on the nation's debt, for example, is significantly higher.
Trump praised the bill profusely in a social media post, saying, 'We can have all of this right now, but only if the House GOP UNITES, ignores its occasional 'GRANDSTANDERS' , and does the right thing, which is sending this Bill to my desk.'
The high price of opposing Trump's bill
Johnson is intent on meeting Trump's timeline and betting that hesitant Republicans won't cross the president because of the heavy political price they would have to pay.
They need only look to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who announced his intention to vote against the legislation over the weekend. Soon, the president was calling for a primary challenger to the senator and criticizing him on social media. Tillis quickly announced he would not seek a third term.
One House Republican who has staked out opposition to the bill, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, is being targeted by Trump's well-funded political operation.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalize, R-Louisiana, said the leadership was not entertaining the possibility of making changes to the bill before the final vote.
'It's not as easy as saying, 'Hey, I just want one more change,' because one more change could end up being what collapses the entire thing,' Scalize said.
Democratic lawmakers, united against the bill as harmful to the country, condemned the fast-track process.
'We're rushing not because the country demands it but because he wants to throw himself another party,' said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. 'This isn't policy. It's ego management.'
Democrats
target vulnerable Republicans to join them in opposition
Flanked by nearly every member of his caucus, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York delivered a pointed message from the Capitol steps on Wednesday morning: All Democrats will vote 'no,' and they only need to flip four Republicans to prevent the bill from passing.
Jeffries singled out Republicans from districts expected to be highly competitive in 2026, including two from Pennsylvania.
'Why would Rob Bresnahan vote for this bill? Why would Scott Perry vote for this bill?' he said.
Democrats have described the bill in dire terms. They say Medicaid cuts would result in 'Americans losing their lives because of their inability to access health care coverage.' Republicans are 'literally ripping the food out of the mouths of children, veterans and seniors,' Jeffries said Monday.
Republicans say they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse.
The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and applies existing work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to more beneficiaries. States will also pick up more of the cost for food benefits.
The driving force behind the bill, however, is the tax cuts. Many expire at the end of this year if Congress doesn't act.
The Tax Policy Center, which provides nonpartisan analysis of tax and budget policy, projected the bill would result next year in a $150 tax break for the lowest quintile of Americans, a $1,750 tax cut for the middle quintile and a $10,950 tax cut for the top quintile. That's compared with what they would face if the 2017 tax cuts expired.